


Road Trip: The Glader Way

by GhostwithShotgun



Category: The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Road Trips, fluff sort of, i think, the Gladers are trying to make Newtmas happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-03
Updated: 2015-07-31
Packaged: 2018-04-07 13:08:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 29,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4264353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostwithShotgun/pseuds/GhostwithShotgun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They just graduated (well, everyone except Chuck) and Minho convince them to go on a roadtrip through the states in a renovated school bus to celebrate. Newt's  had a crush on Thomas for years, and everyone except Thomas knows of it. After a secret discussion that neither Newt or Thomas knows of, their friends decide to make it a competition who can get them together. They have one try each.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"C'mon, it'll be fun! My parents have already agreed to pay for the whole thing." Minho tried, and Newt sighed. They were having a dinner at Teresa's place, and he and Gally were the only ones still hesitating. He knew the others would make him go anyways, Thomas was already doing his bloody puppy eyes at him, and decided that it wouldn't help to argue.

"Fine. I'll go." he said, and Minho grinned.

"Great! Gally?" he asked, and Gally gave a defeated sigh.

"Sure. Haven't got anything better to do." he said, and Minho fist pumped the air before putting his arm around Brenda. Newt was busy imagining that he was bashing his own skull in. He had just agreed to go on a roadtrip over the summer with nine other persons, and he had a massive crush on one of them. Thomas smiled at him from across the table, and Newt's heart jumped. This would be the death of him.

They spent the rest of the dinner making plans on where they should go and other stuff. Newt was mostly quiet and only said something when the others asked him. He already regretted his decision, but who knew. Maybe it would be fun. 

*************

Thomas took his bag and and put it inside the bus. Newt followed him inside.

"We only have to wait for Zart and Fry, and then we're ready to go." Thomas informed him, and Newt shrugged.

"I'm still not sure this is such a great idea, Tommy." he said, and Thomas smiled and threw an arm around him. Newt fought a blush he felt creeping up his neck and tried to ignore it.

"It'll be great, just give it a shot." Thomas replied, and Newt forced a smile. He was going to be with all of his friends, so maybe it wouldn't be too bad. In that moment Zart and Fry came in through the door and was followed by the rest of their friends. Minho jumped into the driver's seat. Alby eyed him and Thomas with a raised eyebrow.

"We interrupting something?" he asked, and that's when Newt realized Thomas still had his arm around his shoulders. He had to fight the blush again.

"Nope. Newtie's still not sure about this and I'm just trying to talk him into it." Thomas said and removed his arm. It felt strangely cold. Newt turned to glare at him.

"Stop calling me that." he almost growled and Thomas smirked.

"Never." he said and Minho groaned.

"Get a room." he said, which made the rest of their friends laugh, and Newt was already tired of all the bloody blushing.

"Maybe later." Thomas said, and winked at Newt. Newt almost choked and all their friends groaned loudly.

"Alright, buckle up. We're ready to go." Minho announced and everyone sat down. Newt leaned the back of his head against the wall of the bus. They had removed all of the seats except the driver's and replaced them with mattresses. He closed his eyes and prepared himself for a _long_ trip.

***************

Newt and Thomas left the bus to get lunch for them, and Minho left his seat to sit down with the others.

"I've got an idea." he announced and that got him their attention.

"We all know that the two idiots who are getting us lunch are in love with eachother." he began and everyone nodded and Gally added "it's gross."

"They are not gonna do anything about it themselves, so I thought we'd help them out a bit." he continued, and Gally, Brenda and Fry smirked, while the rest nodded.

"What've you got in mind?" Teresa asked.

"I thought we'd make it a competition to see who of us can get them together." he said and everyone nodded.

"Sounds like fun. What are the terms?" Zart said and Minho shrugged.

"I'll let you decide that." he said, and Alby spoke up.

"I say we get one try each, and every try can take one day at most. We'll start over again if needed, and we take turns in a specific order so none of us accidently try on the same day. What'd you say?" he asked, and everyone nodded approving.

"Sounds good. Which order should we do it in?" Chuck asked. 

"I'll go first, as I came up with the idea." Minho said with a grin, and no one complained. After a bit of discussing, they came up with a order: Minho, Alby, Gally, Fry, Chuck, Zart, Teresa and Brenda. Satisfied, Minho moved back to the driver's seat. He had to hide his smirk when the two love birds returned. This was going to be _so_ fun.


	2. Paintball for two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minho's first up. He knows nothing he does will get them together since it's the first try, so he figures they can all have a bit of fun.

"Really, Minho? We're playing paintball, and you team up with Brenda? You are two of our very best shots. It's unfair!" Newt protested. He wasn't a huge fan of paintball, and when they are teaming up two and two and two of the three best of them are in the same team, it's not fun at all. Minho grinned.

"If you think it's so unfair, you can be with Thomas. He's the very best of us all." Minho said and Newt sighed in defeat. He couldn't argue that Tommy was their best shot, and protesting more would just make him look like a douchebag.

"Fine." he muttered and Minho cheered. 

"Great! What are our other teams?" he asked and looked at their friends. Gally grabbed Chuck, Teresa moved closer to Fry and Alby threw and arm around Zart's shoulders. Minho looked pleased.

"Let's go then." he announced and took Brenda's hand. Alby followed them closely and Newt and Thomas came after him. Alby and Minho seemed to have have some sort of discussion. Usually he wouldn't try to hear, but Alby looked like he was accusing Minho of being an idiot, and no bloody way Newt was going to miss that. He could hear clearly enough to make out their words when Alby was in the middle of a sentence.

"...and you choose paintball? That's just lame, man. It's not going to work." Newt was confused. It had made sense until the last part. He concentrated on Minho's words to see if they would mae it easier to understand.

"I know, but it wouldn't have worked whatever I chose to do. It's our first try. We might as well have fun together. And I don't get why you complain. When I fail, it will increase your chances of winning." Newt didn't know what he had expected. Of course Minho would make less sense than Alby. He decided that it wasn't worth the effort, so he turned his attention to Tommy instead, who was looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Those brown eyes would be the death of him, Newt just knew it.

"What's going on in that brain of yours?" Tommy asked with a slight tug at the corner of his mouth. Newt couldn't decide of he wanted to push Tommy against a wall or kiss him. _Both. Definitely both._

"Nothing. My mind just wandered for a bit." he answered. Tommy wouldn't understand the conversation he had heard either, so it wasn't necessary to tell him. Tommy shrugged and they quietly followed their friends. 

**************

Newt crouched behind a bush, Tommy pressed against him. He held his gun tightly and quickly glanced over to one of the pine trees. They had managed to take both Chuck and Gally out, but there was still no sign of any of the others. He could feel Tommy's breath aganist his shoulder and his heart raced. Being this close to Tommy wasn't healthy. He could smell him, feel the warmth from his body... Newt pressed those thoughts away. He needed to be alert. He hadn't really been down for the idea, but now the game was on and his competitive side had taken over. It was good that he was with Tommy,that increased his chances dramatically, but if he didn't focus he would still get hit and drag Tommy down with him. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I saw something move over there." Tommy suddenly whispered and nodded slightly towards a few bushes next to a big boulder. Newt nodded.

"Keep looking to make sure. I'll try to look for other movements. There's not enough place for two over there, so the other one should be around here somewhere." he replied in a hurried whisper. Tommy nodded and did as he was told. Newt scanned the area, and when he didn't see anything on ground-level he raised his eyes to to take a closer look at the trees. He saw a slight out-of-place movement qite high in one of them. He looked more closely, and when he squinted he finally spotted Teresa. She didn't look like she had seen them yet, so he turned to Tommy. When he got his attention he nodded towards the tree. It took Tommy a few moments, but then he nodded and pointed at the bushes again. Newt looked closely and saw a bit of Fry's dark skin. He nodded and then pointed at himself and then Fry to tell Tommy that he would take Fry. Tommy nodded and they split up. Newt needed to get closer to make a decent shot, so he carefully crawled in a wide circle to get behind his target. He mad sure not to make too much of the bushes and grass around him move, because even though Fry couldn't see him Teresa still had a pretty good view from the tree and she would be quick to notice him. He made it to some low-hanging branches in a tree right behind Fry and spotted Tommy right under Teresa's tree. Tommy was staring at him, and he signed that he was ready to go. He raised his gun and fired.

Fry screamed in surprise and Newt instantly hid behind the boulder to get out of range for Teresa. He heard one of her bullets hit the stone, before she yelped and he heard her lose her balance and fall down. 

"Good job, guys! Let's go, Fry." he heard her say, and then Tommy was back beside him.

"I'm certain that Min and Brenda's got Alby and Zart, so it us against them now. We need to keep out eyes open." he whispered and Newt nodded. Minho and Brenda was the second and third best after Tommy, and it would be a challenge. It would be great to have at least three more pairs of eyes right now. He followed Tommy, and it wasn't long until he felt something hit his arm. He dropped right to the ground and dragged Tommy with him. Tommy saw the pink paint he had on his arm, and grabbed his wrist to drag him to a place where they could hide. They went for a hidden place between some low hanging branches, bushes and tall grass. Tommy turned to look at him with a bit of concern.

"You alright, man?" he asked and Newt nodded.

"Yeah. It's gonna leave a bruise, but it's nothing to worry about. You know how easily I bruise. Let's go get those bloody shanks." he answered in a whisper, and Tommy grinned. 

"Yeah. They were definitely somewhere behind us, so let's take a look." he whispered back and they went to look. Newt immdeiatley spotted them. They were looking up over the bushes where he and Tommy had hid earlier. Tommy had seen them too, apparently. They mad eye contact and nodded. Newt raised his gun and aimed at Minho. They fired at the same time, and was awarded with startled yelps from both their targets. Tommy threw is arm around Newt's shoulder as they left their hideout. They were just walking over an open space when Newt felt something hit his back. The same thing happened to Tommy apparently. They turned around to see Alby and Zart laughing their asses off.

"Great plan, Brenda! I actually doubted it first, but it worked!" Alby shouted and Newt tunred around again to glare at Minho and Brenda.

"You worked _with_ them!? That's cheating, you bloody bastards!" he growled but made sure to not sound to serious. He had had fun, and didn't really care. Minho and Brenda just joined Alby and Zart in their laughter, and Tommy grinned at him.

"We would have taken them too if we knew." he said and Newt smiled at him.

"Of course. Now let's go get changed. I've got way too bloody much stuff in my shoes for it to be comfortable." he said and dragged Tommy with him away from the others.

**************

Newt was in bed and Thomas had gone to take a piss, so the rest gathered together. Minho looked at them.

"I failed, and that was what I expected. Alby, you're up. Got anything in mind yet?" he asked, careful to keep his voice down to avoid waking Newt up. Alby shook his head.

"Not just yet. Got a few ideas, but I'll let you know when I've decided." he said and MInho nodded.

"Good. Let's get some sleep now." he said and their small Gathering was over. Over all he was pleased with the outcome of his try. When they got back, Thomas had barely left Newt's side and his feelings had been showing so much that only Newt could miss them. And Newt seemed to finally think that this could be fun. They were one step closer. Minho just hoped that it would take them long enough so he could try again.


	3. In Upendi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Alby's turn, and he figures some wet adventures haven't killed anyone, sooo...

"Are you kidding? I'll drown. You know I'm not good at stuff like this." Chuck complained and Newt grinned. He knew Chuck was exaggerating, the kid simply didn't like canoeing. He on the other hand, loved Alby's idea. He loved being in the nature, and canoeing was never anything but fun. He looked forward to this.

"Well," Minho said. "It's Alby's turn to decide, so you have no choice. Just go with Alby if that makes you feel safer." Chuck still didn't look happy about it, but Newt could see that he was still pleased. Newt knew he wanted to be with Thomas for this one too, the boy was really clumsy for an athlete and this would be hilarious.

"I'll be with Tommy. I could use a good laugh." he said, and it earned him a playful punch in the arm from said boy.

"I'm not that bad!" Thomas protested and Newt just raised an eyebrow at him. He saw Alby looking at Minho with a pleased look on his face, and for some reason that seemed to annoy the Asian. Newt decided to ignore it. They had all been acting kind of strange lately.

**************

Newt couldn't help but laugh at Thomas. He was already sitting in the canoe, and Thomas was trying to get in. Thomas looked at him with an offended look.

"This isn't funny, Newt! It feels like it's going to flip over or something. I agree with Chuck: this will end in death and misery." he muttered, and Newt laughed so hard he almost fell into the lake.

"Just get in the bloody canoe, Tommy. I promise to save you if you fall into the very dangerous water. Let's get goin', everyone else has begun." he said when he could finally talk properly again. Thomas glared at him but did as he was told. 

"Great. Now you put your oar to that side and put mine to this side. And just move it like this..." Newt instructed and showed Thomas. He knew he had never done this before and wanted to teach him. Thomas tried, and then gave Newt an insecure look. Newt smiled at the boy before him.

"Just like that. You'll be fine." he reassured and Thomas flashed a huge smile at him.

"Let's do this then!" he said and Newt nodded. They were only a few feet from land when something flashed in Thomas' eyes. It was the look he always had when he was going to suggest something idiotic but fun that would end in a disaster but Newt wouldn't be able to say no because firstly, Thomas would look at him with those bloody puppy eyes and secondly, it would be an hilarious disaster. 

"What do you say we make our way to Gally and Fry? They look a bit dry, don't they?" he smirked and Newt really wanted to punch himself in the face.

"Yes the do." he answered despite himself and Thomas grinned. While they made their way to their two friends Newt was planning on what he wanted his headstone to say. He decided that _Don't listen to your friends if you want to avoid this fate._ would be the best. They were side by side with Fry and Gally now, and Fry turned towards Newt to say something, but before he got to Thomas splashed water on them. _A lot_ of water. Newt moved his oar to a better position and joined Thomas. Fry and Gally shrieked in surprise.

"That's shucking cold!" Gally shouted before starting to splash water on Newt and Thomas. Newt had to stop himself from crying out loud when the water hit him. Gally was right about that part, it was bloody cold! They were having a full on war when Teresa and Brenda joined them. It wasn't long until all ten of them were trying to get eachother as wet a possible. Newt felt the last, tiny bit of doubt about this trip fly away. It had been a while since he had enjoyed himself this much, mostly because of school. They were all laughing and playing, and even though it was like the most cliché scene in a teen movie he loved it.

After more than half an hour they decided to get up and dry for a bit. Thomas started a fire while Newt looked through his bag. He had had a feeling that he would end up wet, so he had packed two extra T-shirts. He changed into one of them, and threw the second one at Thomas who just stood up.

"Take this. Of course you didn't think of bringing extra clothes yourself you bloody shank." he said while turning around to help Fry prepare their lunch. It was just sandwiches because they wanted to keep it simple, so it didn't take long until people could come and grab a couple each. Newt sat down next to Thomas and they ate without saying a word. When he was done, Newt felt pretty tired and layed down on the ground. He closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of his friends, the fire, nature... He felt a light breeze tickle his arms and he allowed himself to smile a bit. This was simply great.

"What're ya thinking about?" Thomas asked and Newt didn't need to open his eyes to know that Thomas just layed down next to him.

"Just how nice this is." he replied without caring to elaborate. He knew he didn't need to either when he heard Thomas hum in agreement. 

"Yeah. It would be nice with more days like this. Do you want to go canoeing some more? Without getting wet this time." Thomas said and Newt opened one of his eyes.

"Really, Tommy? Wasn't it you who could barely get in the bloody thing before?" he joked and Thomas rolled his eyes.

"Well, now I know what to do so I want to try again." the brunette said and Newt pushed himself up on his elbows.

"Okay. When?" he asked and Thomas shrugged.

"Now?" he asked and Newt got on his feet. He held out one of his hands to help Thomas get up. They made their way to their canoe and got in it. They worked under a comfortable silence until they came to a willow with branches hanging down into the water. They went around it, which hid them from the rest of their friends. They stayed there and Newt touched the water. 

"Are our friends acting strange, or is it just me?" Thomas asked and Newt turned his gaze to him. The water made an interesting reflection on his face.

"I've noticed it too, but I don't think it's something to care about. Our friends are a bit... odd, and if something serious was happening they would let us know." he said and Thomas nodded.

"Yeah, you're right. It probably has something to do with graduation or something." he said and Newt shrugged. They gre nicely quiet and Newt could listen to the crickets singing, feel the wind ruffle his hair and sneaking looks at Thomas. The sun made it seem like he was surrounded by an aura of light, and Newt would say that he looked like an angel if that didn't make him sound too much like a love-struck girl in a teen movie. This whole day was like a bloody teen movie when he thought about it. The thought almost made him cringe.

He had no idea how long they sat there, but it was for hours with some occasional conversation. The sun was on it's way down when they decided to return to their friends. The orange sky made Thomas' eyes shine with a warm glow, and Newt swore he had never seen anything more beautiful. He was happy no one could hear his heartbeat, because he could feel that it was racing. Thomas was truly breathyaking, and not only right now. He was always beautiful, but the light made it clearer. And his personality was one of gold. Newt was so lucky to be able to call Thomas his friend. 

"And they're back! We were starting to think that you had drowned." Minho shouted when they came back and Thomas laughed.

"Nah, man. Newt wouls probably have saved both our asses." he replied and Newt jokingly smacked him on the back of his head with a grin so big it was just silly. Zart looked at them with raised eyebrows.

"What happened? You both look like you're back in seventh grade and your crush asked you on a date." Brenda remarked and Newt had to fight to not choke on the air.

"We're just tired I guess. And Newt was too busy enjoying nature to ask me out." Thomas joked, and Newt couldn't decide if he was thankful for not having to reply, or if he hated Thomas for that joke. He decided on a bit of both. Their frinds just laughed and put the fire out before they left to return to their bus.

***************

Newt and Thomas was walking in the very back, so Minho could safely talk to Alby and Gally in the front.

"Well, they're not together yet, that much is obvious. But it was a nice try though, Alby." he said and Alby nodded.

"That joke Thomas pulled about Newt not asking him out because he was busy with nature was just gross, and so obvious that only Newt could miss it. We need to get them together soon, or I will literally puke." Gally said and Minho couldn't help but laugh because he totally agreed.

"Yeah, they're two oblivious shanks. And you're up next. Let me know when you know what you want to do." he said and Gally nodded before falling back to Fry and Zart. Minho let himself glance at Thomas and Newt, and he just wanted to punch them both in the face. Their feelings were showing so clearly through their eyes, and he decided that he could offically declare them as idiots. He could only pray that Gally would manage to end the useless pining.


	4. Under the Sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Gally's turn, and since Alby's try by the lake went so well, why not add more water and hope it does the trick?

"It's somewhere around here, I swear!" Gally protested. He was standing in the front of the bus, next to Minho who wouldn't let anyone else drive. Newt chuckled.

"Admit it, you have forgotten the way there and gotten us lost!" Minho shouted back and Newt just found the whole thing hilarious. Thomas' grin told Newt that the he thought it was just as fun to watch the whole thing. The road made a sharp turn that made Newt crash into Thomas. 

"We should have some popcorn. This is better than any movie." Thomas whispered and made Newt laugh out loud. Gally turned to glare at him and he pulled his best guilty-innocent face. Gally just rolled his eyes at him and turned his eyes back to the road. Newt smirked in amusement.

**************

"There! Turn left! I told you I remembered the way!" Gally shouted. Minho took the turn and Gally went back to his seat. For a while the only sound was the music from the radio. Then Minho let out a surprised noise.

"I can see it! You actually remembered, Gally. I'm surprised. And you didn't lie when you said it was beautiful." he said and the bus stopped. They all stood up and walked outside. Newt had to say he was impressed. It was Gally's turn to decide their destination for the day, and he had chosen a hidden bay at the wes coast he and his parents used to visit when he was a child. He had said it was a beautiful place with white sand, calm water and high cliffs. He hadn't lied. The beach was indeed white, the water was calm even though some waves came in from the sea outside the cliffs, and the cliffs grew gradually higher the further out they were. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky and the wind was still. Today would be wonderful, he just knew it. They had a few meters to walk until they were at the actual beach, so he grabbed his bag and decided to do like Zart and walk barefoot. 

Newt sat down on the beach and buried his hands and feet in the sand. It was warmed up by the sun and felt wonderful. He rarely went to the ocean, and every time was next to perfect, and this time would probably top them all. They had the whole bay for themselves, he didn't have to keep an eye out for his little sister and all his friends were here with him. He was interrupted by Thomas sitting down next to him.

"Please tell me you're not just gonna sit here on land all day." he said and Newt shook his head.

"Absolutely not." he replied and Thomas looked pleased. He stood up again and pulled off his T-shirt. Newt felt his heart jump and stomach twist at the sight. He had literally died and gone to heaven, because no way Thomas could look that good. He turned his gaze towards the water before he got caught staring. 

"Good. I'm expecting you to join us soon." Thomas said with a wink before running to the water, where Minho, Brenda and Teresa was already swimming. Newt couldn't help but sneak a look at Thomas' ass. Today was indeed going to be great. Once again he was interrupted by someone sitting down next to him, only this time it was Gally.

"You know, you ain't exactly discreet." the boy said and Newt could feel his face starting to burn.

"Discreet about what?" he asked even though he knew exactly what Gally was talking about.

"Your gross crush on Thomas. But don't worry, he wouln't notice even if you had neon signs above your head telling him. Your secret's safe with me." Gally said before briefly putting his hand on Newt's shoulders. Then he stood up.

"You should probably get in the water soon, before Teresa steals your man. You may not swing that way, but you have to admit she looks good in a bikini." Gally winked and walked off while taking his shirt off. Newt tried to force his blush back, but it was a bit hard because Gally had just called Thomas _his man._ He took a few deep breaths to calm his pounding heart down before he pulled his own shirt off. Even though he wasn't as built as Thomas, Minho and Gally he still felt pretty comfortable with his body. He was still muscular, and it showed although he was quite slender. 

He, too, ran into the water. It was actually warmer than he had expected and he dived under the surface instantly. He swam a few feet before returning up. He pulled his hand through his hair to get it out of his face and then walked over to his friends. He was quite a bit away from the beach, but the water still only reached just above his waist. Thomas noticed him, and Newt thought he saw his eyes lingering a bit on his upper body, but it was only for a fraction of a second and Newt put it in the 'Things-That-Never-Actually-Happened' folder in his brain.

"Look who finally decided to show up!" Thomas exclaimed and Newt rolled his eyes.

"I only took like five minutes longer than you, Tommy so shut up." he said and Thomas laughed. Newt yelped when he felt a sudden weight behind him. He regained his balance right before both him and Teresa, who had just jumped on him and locked her arms around his neck, fell. She laughed and he lifted her upp piggyback-style. Then he dove under the surface again and when he started to swim further away from the rest she let go. He returned up again and laughed. She splashed him in the face with water. He laughed again and turned around to float on his back, but his plans were changed when Thomas fell right on his stomach and the both went under. When they were back above the surface again Minho was laughing his ass off.

They played in the water for hours, before Zart's stomach told them all, quite loudly Newt might add, that it was time for lunch. Zart and Fry went back to the beach to prepare the food while the rest of them stayed in the water for a while longer. Newt dove and swam away from the rest of them. It was only lunchtime, and this was already one of the best, if not the best, days of his life. 

"Get up, you shucking dolphins! Lunch's ready!" Fry shouted. Newt swam a bit and then stood up to walk the rest of the way back to the beach. They were all sitting in a circle in the sand and Newt sank down between Thomas and Chuck. Fry and Zart walked around and gave them all bowls with fruit salad. It was simple, but Newt felt like it was perfect for today, and it got his summer spirits even higher. The salad was just strawberries, bananas, oranges, pineapple and watermelon, with custard of course. It was when he looked at his bowl he realized that he was actually hungry. Minho was already stuffing his mouth full. 

"Fry, just know that I thank God for you and your food every day." he heard Gally say. He understood him completely when he took his first bite. Everything tasted at least three times better than it usually did. They te under silence, and unsurprisingly Thomas was finished first. When he was hungry, he could eat like a whole pack of wolves. When he was done, Newt simply fell back into the sand and closed his eyes, There was a light breeze now, but it only made it nicer since it wasn't too hot then, and Newt swore it was impossible to feel better. The taste of pineapple mixed with custard lingered in his mouth. When he opened his eyes, Thomas was staring at him.

"Enjoying the view, Tommy?" he asked teasingly and Thomas smirked.

"Maybe a bit. You sort of look like a five year old who got what he wished for on Christmas. This roadtrip wasn't such a bad idea after all, was it?" he replied and Newt closed his eyes again with a silly smile plastered on his face.

"Not at all. Thank God for your bloody convincing puppy eyes." Newt sighed and Thomas laughed, not caring to reply. Not long after music filled the air and Newt figured Brenda had finally decided that she needed music and started her bluetooth player. Right now she played Kygo's 'Stole The Show'. Newt sat up and looked around. Chuck, Teresa, Gally and Alby had returned to the water, Fry and Zart were cleaning up after lunch, Brenda and Minho were sitting a few yards away under a tree, kissing, and Thomas was still laying beside him. Newt ruffled his own hair a bit since it was stuck uncomfortably to his forehead and then he leaned back against a tree. This was how life was supposed to be. Thomas opened one of his eyes and peered at Newt.

"Wanna go climb some of the cliffs?" he asked and Newt considered it. He was quite happy with staying on the beach, but the view was probably amazing from higher up so he nodded. Thomas swiftly got back on his feet and offered Newt a hand, which he gladly accepted. Thomas then let go and put his arm around Newt's shoulders instead when they walked away to find a good spot to start climbing. Newt could actually hear his own heartbeat. 

"Aha!" Thomas burst out and let go of Newt to point at a spot that wasn't too steep with lots of spots to place their feet, they would need to use their hands at all, almost. Thomas walked over there, and then waited for Newt.

"Ladies first." he smirked and Newt rolled his eyes at him before starting the climb. He only got a few feet before he stepped on a slippery spot and fell backwards. He felt himself crashing into Thomas and Thomas put his arms around his waist to help him regain his balance. Thomas smirked and raised an eyebrow at him, and Newt glared back before continuing. They climbed upwards for about half an hour, and then they reached the top of the highest cliff on that side of the bay. They sat down side by side with their legs dangling over the edge. They were silent while looking at the view, and if he listened closely Newt could still hear Lost Frequencies' 'Are You With Me'.

"Wow." Thomas finally let out, and Newt couldn't agree more. He had been right when he guessed that the view would be amazing. They sat silent for a long while.

"Hey, you two! Get down here! It's time for ice cream!" Minho shouted from the beach. Newt sighed and got up. The climb down was way more difficult than the one up, but they made it down without breaking something, so he didn't complain. Their friends were just getting back from the water and they all sat down together while Fry handed them all one bowl of ice cream each.

They spent the afternoon playing both in the ocean and on the beach. At one point they had a few rounds of piggyback races, but they stopped when Gally face planted the sand with Chuck still on his back. When the sun started to set Alby went back to the bus to get them all blankets. He got back with his arms full.

"We didn't have blankets for everyone, so we'll have to share." he announced and Brenda went and grabbed a blanket that se wrapped around herself and Minho. Teresa threw one over her and Chuck's shoulders and in the end Newt had to share with Thomas. _Of course it had to be Tommy. Shirtless Tommy with messy beach hair._

"Well, Tommy, if you're gonna share with me you better be down for going to those rocks. I want to get a better view and sit down without getting the blanket full of sand." he said and didn't care to wait for a reply before walking over to a group of big rocks close to the water. Thomas followed him and they sat in silence while the sun went down. It felt so natural to sit curled up under the same blanket as Thomas watching the sun set over the ocean. And Newt realized that he was in too deep. No way he was ever getting over Thomas.

**************

Minho and Brenda sat next to Fry and Gally and Minho watched Thomas and Newt. They looked so adorable he didn't actually know what to do. But it was so painfully obvious that they still hadn't come any closer to be an actual ouple. He turned to Fry.

"You're up. And please, I like this whole thing where we all do stuff together, so don't just make them some romantic dinner for two." he said and Fry laughed.

"I think I've already got something in mind, so no need to worry." he replied and Minho nodded and turned his eyes back to his two pining friends. They sat so close together that they looked almost like himself and Brenda. Gally had done great, there was no denying that. He made a mental note to congratulate him later.


	5. Marshmallows and Guitars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Fry's turn to play matchmaker, and nothing says romance quite like BBQ and campfires, right?

"C'mon, Fry. It's your turn. Tell us what to do today!" Zart begged. Minho, ALby and Gally had already tried to convince Fry to think of something to do during the day. He had told them to stop somewhere in the middle of nowhere by a lake, but then he just went to sit under a tree and didn't do anything else. It was a bit weird, Newt had to admit. The others had planned stuff to do for whole days, but Fry didn't seem to even have thought about it.

"I've told you shanks: I've only got plans for tonight. Do whatever 'til then." Fry replied.

"Like what? We're in the middle of nowhere." Chuck muttered. Fry sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Fine then. Alby, Zart and Gally, you can go chop up some wood. Minho, you're the driver. Take the girls, Thomas and Newt to the nearest town and get marshmallows, hot dogs and see if you can find a book or something with chords for guitar so I can play. Chuck, you stay here with me and chill. Sound good?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, daring them all to argue. They didn't. They all got up (except Chuck who leaned ack against Fry's tree with a pleased smirk), and Newt heard Minho mutter something about "shucking slavery". Newt didn't actually mind. It had been a few days since the day at the beach, and they had mostly been in the bus. It'd be fun to interact with other humans for a while. Minho muttered all the way to the bus while Brenda told him he was just being silly. Newt followed quietly behind with Teresa and Thomas, slightly amused.

**************

"We should get these marsmallows, they actually say _BBQ_ marshmallows." Brenda said and held up a bag. Thomas shook his head.

"We don't know if Fry wants us to get marshmallows to roast over the fire tonight. Maybe he just wanted marshmallows." he contered and Brenda rolled her eyes.

"Of course he wants to have roasted marshmallows tonight. He told the boys to chop up wood, and us to get hot dogs _and_ marshmallows. That just screams campfire and roasted marshmallows. Besides, marshmallows are gross when they aren't roasted." she argued but Thomas still refused to agree. Newt, Minho and Teresa stood and watched the whole thing. Minho was grinning. But amusing as it was, Newt still decided to try and negociate so they could continue their shopping.

"Why not just take both? I'm sure we can still roast the ordinary ones if that's the case, and Fry could probably eat the BBQ ones if he just wants marshmallows. I can't imagine there's much of a difference." he said and they both nodded, seemingly pleased. Newt menatlly high fived himself. Another fight avoided.

"Good that. And she's right, Tommy. Marshmallows are gross when not roasted. It's just fluffy sugar that turns slimey when you put them in your mouth." he continued and pulled an exessively disgusted face. Brenda looked at Thomas with a smug face, and Thomas laughed.

"I know. And you just pulled the cutest face ever." he teased and Newt smacked him on the top of his head.

"Shut up, Tommy. I'm not cute. I'm majestic and manly like hell." he said and Thomas just laughed harder.

"The married couple done? Can we continue with our mission?" Minho asked, and Newt nodded. They found the hot dogs and decided to buy something to drink too, while they were still at the shop. Then they returned to the bus and drove around the town to look for a bookstore. During their third lap Teresa found it. They walked inside, and it was much bigger than Newt had expected. He instantly forgot why they were there and walked over to the shelves with classic literature. He was completely lost in thought when Thomas walked up to him.

"Books with chords, dude. Not Sherlock Holmes." he said, and Newt snapped back to reality.

"Yeah. Sorry. It's just... Books." he explained and knew that Thomas would understand. Thomas put a hand on his shoulder and steered him away from the shelves.

"I know. But focus." he said and then let go to search somewhere else. Minho was the one to find the right shelf. And of course they had to argue about which book would be the best.

"Oh, come on. 'Hits of the 21st century' is definitely the one we should get." Minho thought, but Thomas didn't agree.

"No way, man. 'Rock Classics' is way better." he said, and then Teresa said that she thought they should get the one with common campfire-songs. Newt and Brenda looked at eachother and rolled their eyes. Then Brenda took Teresa and Minho's books while Newt took Thomas' and added one with country songs, just in case. Thet payed for the books and returned to the bus, the other three following them sheepishly. 

**************

The sun was setting, and Fry was working on getting the fire started. He had just laughed at them when they returned from their shopping trip and Newt had explained why they gave him a plastic bag with four different books and like a year's worth of marshmallows. 

Soon the fire was burning high and they were all gathered around it, Fry with his guitar next to him. Newt sat next to Thomas, and their legs were touching. The heat from the fire was almost scorching his face, so if he blushed no one woild notice since his face already was red. The hot dogs were already gone because they had all completely forgotten to eat lunch, so now the marshmallows were passed around. A chilly breeze swept through the air, and Newt was glad they had the fire, even though he suspected that he would need to get a blanket later. Apparently, Fry considered himself done and he picked the guitar up. Newt immediatley recognized 'Chasing Cars' and started to sing along. He was joined by Zart, and soon they were all singing along. When they sang the line "If I just lay here, would you lie with me and just forget the world?" he and Thomas made eye contact, but they both realized at the same time and quickly looked the other way. 

They continued to accidentaly make eye contact at awkward lines, and around 11pm Teresa got up and got them all blankets. Newt once again curled up together with Thomas under a blanket, and Fry started to play 'The Nights' by Avicii, and it was just now Newt realized how good his friend were at playing. They were all smiling while they sang along and Newt knew that this was indeed a night that would never die. After that they continued with more songs that weren't really love songs, just happy songs. As the night went on, he and Thomas ended up crawling closer and closer to eachother to keep warm. Around 1am Thomas stood up.

"Nope. My feet are freezing. Gotta move. Got something more dance-friendly?" he asked Fry, who smirked and plucked a bit at the strings, not really playing but they all recognized the song he was suggesting. Gally laughed, Alby looked like his life was about to be ruined and Minho were chuckling while saying "yes. God yes.". Newt just started to once again question his choice of friends. He didn't get to do that for long though, because Thomas dragged him to his feet.

"C'mon, join me." he said, and when Newt hesitated he looked at him with his bloody puppy eyes. Newt knew he would regret this later but nodded. Then Minho stood up.

"I'm freezing too." he said and Newt would be eternally grateful for Minho. 

"Okay then." Fry said and started playing while Gally and Minho were singing loudly.

"If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe, I'd been married a long time ago. Where did you come from, where did you go? Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe."

They all joined the song, and everyone except Fry started to dance. Newt was laughing and smiling so hard that he really had a hard time singing along with his friends, but it was way too fun to worry about that. He didn't know why he had nt expected this song. Of course Fry was going to play Cotton-Eye Joe as a joke. Even ALby was dancing and singing along, not a single trace of his earlier look left on his face.

When they sat back down, the guitar was passed around so everyone could try and play something. When it was Thomas' turn, he flawlessly played the intro to Metallica's 'Master of Puppets'. Newt couldn't help but stare. He hadn't known that Thomas could play the guitar. Apparently he wasn't alone, because the rest of their friends were staring along with him. Thomas looked at them all and simply shrugged before passing the guitar on to Newt. He desperatley tried to remember the intro to 'Smoke on the Water' since that was the only real thing he could play on any instrument at all. He played it and then passed the thing along to Brenda. Thomas gave him a mock-impressed look that said "wow, I didn't know you could play anything at all". Newt snorted and rolled his eyes before turning his attention to Brenda. But he didn't really focus on her. He had a hard time processing that _Thomas could play guitar._ Not only was the bloody jerk good-looking, athletic and smart. Now he had to be musical too. Newt hated him. Really. He did. Anything else was a lie. He absolutely did not do the opposite. Nope, never.

When the clock was about 3am they all started to yawn. They decided to call it a day and go to sleep. Newt and Thomas took care of the blankets, and when they walked their shoulders brushed together and when they stopped by the bus Newt almost put his head on Thomas' shoulder. Almost.

**************

Minho had to give it to Fry: this worked better than what a romantic dinner would have. Newt and Thomas had been snuggled up so close together under that blanket that Newt had practically been sitting in Thomas' lap. And now they stood by the bus, pretty much glued to eachother's side and putting the blankets away. He walked up to Chuck.

"You're up next. And please, think of something good. I can't stand this much longer." he said and Chuck nodded.

"You can trust Chuckie. But these two are so oblivious that I'm not sure anything will work, to be honest." the kid replied and Minho nodded. He had a point. They put the fire out, and made their way to the bus. If the others tried to stop hm from sleeping in tomorrow, he would literally snap their necks.


	6. Sharing Beds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chuck's up. They've been outside all the time so far, so why not some indoor activity?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit shorter than usual, but it was hard to get much into this chapter. I hope you enjoy it anyways ^^

"It's sunny outside, Chuck! Why today? Can't it wait?" Thomas asked, looking around their group of friends for support.

"Nope. It's my turn, and we probably won't come across this in a while." Chuck said, and looked quite smug for some reason Newt couldn't really figure out. Minho sat and smirked, leaning against a wall. 

"Fine." Thomas muttered. "But why a romantic comedy? They are all so cheesy just the thought of them makes me cringe." he added and pulled an adorable, disgusted face. Newt almost wanted to congratulate Chuck on getting Thomas to make it.

"I'm tired of action movies, and this one actually sound like it could be good. Pleaseeeeeee?" Chuck said and pouted. Thomas still hesitated, so Newt decided to help Chuckie out a bit.

"C'mon, Tommy. It's a cinema with _beds._ How can you hesitate to that opportunity? Who cares if we have to watch a romantic comedy?" he said, and Thomas crumbled.

"Okay, fine. As you wish." he sighed and when Chuck let out a winning noise and high fived Zart Newt saw him smile. It wasn't much, just a tug at the corner of his mouth like he was trying to not look to pleased. Chuck gave Newt a grateful look. Minho claped his hands together and stood up.

"Well, we better get going. I have to drive for a while to get us there. Buckle up." he said and walked through the bus to get to the driver's seat. When Alby walked past Chuck Newt heard him say "good job, kiddo." and assumed it was because Chuck had managed to talk Thomas into it. He sat down next to Thomas, who looked happy again. Minho started the bus and they were off.

**************

"Dibs!" Gally, Fry, Zart and Alby called at the same time. They had just gotten to know that there were just seven beds left, and now four of them were taken so Newt, Thomas, Chuck, Teresa, Minho and Brenda had to share three beds. Newt knew Minho would want to share a bed with Brenda, so he would have to share with either Chuck, Teresa or Thomas. He found himself hoping he would get Chuck or Teresa. He was so not down for sharing a bed with Thomas in a cinema while watching a romantic comedy. That was not gonna happen, ever. 

"Wanna share, Chuck?" Thomas asked, but the kid shook his head.

"Nope. You won't share your popcorn so I'll share with Teresa." he said with determination and Newt felt his heart sink when Teresa ruffled the kid's hair. _Bloody hell. My luck is literally the worst._ Thomas put an arm around his shoulders. 

"You're gonna have to live with my comments then. Popcorn's on me." he said and Newt raised an eyebrow at him.

"Thought you didn't share?" he said and Thomas nodded.

"That's right, I don't. But I'm buying for you too." he said and Newt felt incredibly pleased, especially when Chuck's eyes grew hilariously big. _Ha! That's what you get for forcing me into this situation._

"Always the gentleman." Teresa joked and Thomas snorted at her. Newt went to find their bed while Thomas got them popcorn. He found it and was positively surprised. They got one almost right in the middle, so he couldn't ask for a better place. Five minutes later Thomas arrived with two _huge_ buckets of popcorn. Chuck eyed them and glared at Thomas, who stuck his tounge out. 

"You're so mature, Tommy." Newt said sarcastically.

"That's what the little shank get for saying I don't share." Thomas replied while he gave Newt his bucket. Then he lay down next to Newt and stretched out as much as he could before relaxing.

"Gotta give it to him though, this was an awesome idea. Sorry if I happen to fall asleep." he continued and Newt smiled. Maybe he would be able to handle this.

"Sure. I may actually do the same." he said and Thomas nodded. They watched Minho and Brenda take place in the bed in ront of them, and then the lights went out. First they showed a couple of trailers for coming movies and Newt heard that Thomas was already munching on his popcorn. Then the movie started. Ten minutes in Newt realized it was about two guys who were going to fall in love and he wished Chuck had mentioned that detail before. That just made the whole thing a whole lot more awkward. Thomas whispered something and Newt shuffled closer to hear what.

"This is so cliché! I promise you, there will be a misunderstanding in five minutes, tops, and it will involve a girl." Thomas sighed and Newt chuckled.

"This is pure torture, right?" he said and Thomas nodded furiously.

"Yes! I swear Chuck heard it was good on the internet, because the internet loves gays." Thomas pointed out and Newt nodded. He didn't care to move back to his old spot because Thomas would probably want to comment more. They were so close that their buckets of popcorn were the only thing separating them, and Newt had his head on Thomas' pillow. Thomas was right about the misunderstanding. It happened about three minutes after Thomas had said it, and it was that a girl flirted with guy 1, and guy 2 saw it and thought they were flirting with eachother. Thomas commented about how he was right and this movie was so predictable. He still chuckled a bit at the one liners, and so did Newt. After half the movie Thomas was out of popcorn, so Newt offered him to share his popcorn. Thomas had payed after all. They accidentaly brushed their hands together a few times, and Newt's heart raced every single one. Within ten minutes they were completely out of popcorn and continued to lay close to eachother. 

Newt's neck started to hurt a bit, so he turned to his side and angled his head so it'd be more comfortable, which meant that he was even closer to Thomas, and his head was resting against Thomas' shoulder. Newt knew he was probably pushing some sort of limit right now, but he wanted to be comfortable and besides, girls did stuff like this all the time so why couldn't they. He was quite pleased when Thomas didn't move away. 

They were at the last 20 or something minutes of the movie, and it was time for the resolution. They were at the scene where guy 1 convinced guy 2 to hear him out, and it was under their first kiss that Newt started to feel really awkward. He fought back a blush and focused on calming his heartbeat. He was so close to Thomas that he would need to control himself to avoid Thomas noticing. The last ten minutes consisted of meeting parents and friends and moving in together and all that crap, and that wasn't too hard for Newt to handle, except for a few quick kisses. 

When the lights were back on, he knew there wasn't a sign of red anywhere in his face and he was proud of himself for handling the whole thing so good. Chuck walked up to Thomas when they were outside again.

"You only bought Newt popcorn to get some sort of weird revenge on me, right?" he muttered, and Thomas smirked.

"Maybe. Or maybe I think Newt is worthy of popcorn." he said and Newt put a hand over his heart.

"I feel honored, Tommy." he said with a smirk and Thomas nodded.

"You should be." he replied with a wink. Chuck groaned and then left and caught up with Minho and Zart who were walking in the front. Teresa walked between him and Thomas and had her arms around their shoulders.

"T, please, think of something funnier when it's your turn." Thomas said with a pleading voice and she threw her head back as she laughed.

"You got it." she replied after a while with a smile. 

**************

When Chuck caught up with him and Zart, Minho greeted him with a smile.

"Gotta give it to you, kid. This was a great try." he grinned and Chuck nodded.

"Of course. My brain couldn't come up with anything else than brilliant ideas." he replied with a smirk. Zart ruffled his hair.

"Yeah. You should have seen how much they were cuddling the last half hour or so, Newt's head on Thomas' shoulder and everything. It was tooth rotting." Zart said and Minho laughed.

"I'm glad I missed it. Now it's your turn to try and top this, Zart." he said and patted Zart on the shoulder.

"Oh, don't worry. I've got plans that only the girls could beat." he said with a wink and Minho chuckled as he opened the doors to the bus.


	7. Under the Moonlight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Zart's turn, and he's the romantic out of the boys, so he hopes to win the competition. He figures the moon will do the trick.

"Well, I'm gonna crash if we're doing that. G'night." Alby said when Zart announced what he wanted to do. Newt liked the idea, it was a bit different from the others'. They were in Montana at the moment, so he suggested they'd go hiking in the mountains during the night to go star-gazing. Also, the moon would be full tonight, so it should be quite beautiful. Alby stood up from the rest of them and walked into the bus. Newt decided that he might as well sleep outside, because all of them seemed to agree with Alby that it would be a godd idea to sleep a few hours, and it was already hot enough during the nights with ten people sleeping in such a small place, and if they were all in there during the day it would be unbearable. So he just lay down on the ground and closed his eyes. 

"Well, I'm gonna follow Al." Fry announced and Newt heard him get up. After that he heard a few more pairs of feet move towards the bus, and he opened one eyes to see if he would be alone outside or not. Minho, Zart and Thomas were still outside.

"Guess _all_ my friends aren't idiots." he mumbled and closed his eye again.

"Yeah. Or the rest simply wants to wake up uncomfortably warm and sweaty." Thomas commented and lay down himself so close to Newt that he could actually feel the heat from his body. His heart picked up it's pace for abit, and then calmed down. He focused on not thinking about anything and soon he was drifting off. But not before he could catch a bit of Minho and Zart's conversation.

"Dude, you're a genius." Minho whispered.

"I told ya. Only the girls have the possibility to beat me at this." Zart replied.

"Yeah. Maybe you'll win this." Minho whispered. "But I think we should sleep now. G'night." 

"Sleep tight." Zart replied and Newt heard them lay down. He thought about the conversation for a second, then decided that it didn't matter and that he would forget about it anyways when he woke up. It took him about twenty second to fall asleep for real.

**************

"Everyone ready?" Zart asked as he put the backpack on his back. He told him he would be their "guide". Fry had made them all food and it was now in their backpack together with drinks and firewood. Half of them carried the blankets too. 

"Let's go." Gally said and followed right after Zart. Newt walked in the middle with Alby and Thomas. Thomas were practically glued to his side while the walked, their shoulders brushing together with every step. Newt didn't mind, though. He liked being close to Thomas, he'd always done and not only since he developed this stupid crush. Thomas had a sort of reassuring aura, and Newt often stressed about different things. It didn't matter if it were school or his family, Thomas always calmed him down and somehow made him feel that everything would be okay.

They walked for about twenty minutes before they got to the actual mountains. It was already dark and the sky was incredibly clear. Newt had to force himself to stop staring at the stars so he could see where he was going and not trip over. Thomas laughed at him.

"You're adorable, you know that?" he said and ducked when Newt tried to hit him to defend his masculinity. Thomas flashed him a huge, genuine smile and flung an arm around his shoulder.

"No need to prove how manly you are, Newt. It's just when you see something that makes you really happy, you always look like a puppy." he said, and Newt didn't catch a single hint of joke in his voice. Thomas genuinley liked that trait of his and accepted it. He felt his heart flutter and smiled back at Thomas. He knew there was a reason he liked the guy. They walked for about two hours, getting higher and higher up. The pine trees grew high, and the fresh mountain air felt very nice, and Newt felt good. This was nice, a bit different to what he was used to but still nice. Then Zart stopped.

"I think this will be a good spot." he announced and dropped his backpack on the ground. Newt took a look around, and was happy Zart had led them. They had come to a big open space at the edge of a cliff. There was nothing blocking the view, so they could see so much of the sky Newt didn't know where to start. He stared in wonder for a while, and then realized his mouth was hanging open. He quickly closed it and looked bak at hid friends. Thomas and Gally were busying themselves with trying to get a fire started. Newt went to sit by the edge instead. The moon was huge and he could see so many stars he almost got dizzy. He barely noticed someone placing a blanket over his shoulders and sitting down next to him.

"You should at least have worn a jacket." Thomas said and got Newt's attention.

"I'm not cold." he said plainly and Thomas snorted.

"Yeah, tell that to the goosebumps covering you." he said, and Newt noticed that he actually was cold. He nodded at Thomas.

"Thanks." he said and Thomas turned to look at the sky.

"Sort of amazing, isn't it?" he said and Newt could only nod. They sat in silence for a while, and then Thomas spoke again.

"Wanna look for constellations?" he asked and Newt actually laughed now.

"Sure, but you're gonna have to do the looking. The only bloody constellation I know is Orion. I like looking at the stars, not looking for figures in them." he said and Thomas smiled at him.

"You're sort of odd, you know that? But okay. I'll try and teach you the ones I know." Then he started to search the sky and Newt studied his face. His forehead was slightly creased in concentration and the moonligt made his skin a sort of magical pale that made it look like it was glowing. Then his eyes lit up and he pointed at the sky.

"There! D'you see the stars that looks like an 'M'? That's Cassiopeia." he said and Newt looked where he pointed. It didn't take long to find it. It was pretty close to Orion and the shape was noticeable. Thomas showed him Ursa Minor and Major too before they walked over to the fire to eat. Fry had made sandwiches because it was the easiest. The fire was a nice change from the chilly air at the edge and Newt curled up close to it, trying to absorb as much heat as possible. He relaxed a bit and looked at the moon again. He got why people in the old days though it was some sort of magic. Thomas was looking at the sky too. They all were, in fact. Newt felt the urge to rest his head against Thomas' shoulder again, but this time he didn't have a sore neck or anything to blame it on, so he didn't want to risk it. He looked at their other friends and smiled. Minho and Brenda were laying on the ground, with her head on his chest and a blanket wrapped around them both. Teresa had her head in Zart's lap, Gally had an arm lazily flung around Chuck's shoulders and Fry and Alby where just sitting beside eachother under a blanket. He was filled with a sudden wave of compassion towards his friends. The way they had all decided to do something together before getting split up across the country with different careers, how they had all worked together to convince him and Gally to join, how close they all were and was enjoying this trip together. They were really the best people he knew, and he could never ask for better friends. 

"What're ya thinking?" Thomas asked and startled Newt. Then he smiled.

"I just realized how lucky I am to have all of you in my life." he answered and Thomas smiled back at him.

"Well, you ain't half bad either." he said and Newt bumped his shoulder into Thomas' side without saying anything else. Than he stood up again and walked over to the edge, and Thomas followed him with an raised eyebrow.

"The view's better here." Newt explained and lay down on his back. Thomas lay down too, with his head next to Newt's. He pointed out Delphinus, Draco and Hercules too, and even told him the stories behind them. Newt listened and was amazed by the fantasy the old Greeks had. He listened to the sound of Thomas' voice and forgot that time still passed. When Zart stood up and told them they should get going, he was surprised when he could see the first bit of sunlight over the horizon. 

They stood up and Alby was already putting the fire out. They collected their backpacks and started the walk back to the bus. They got about halfway, when Newt missed a rock and fell over it. He hit it with his leg so hard that he couldn't help but cry out loud. He curled up a little bit and then pulled his jeans up a bit. He was not surprised when he could see it already turning blue. Thomas were by his side within a second.

"What happened?" he asked, and Newt was almost irritated by the amount of worry in his voice. He rolled his eyes.

"Bloody rock. But it's fine." he said, and Thomas looked doubtingly at him, but still held out a hand to help him up. Newt took it and tried to stand up, but fell to the ground immediatley. No way he could put any weight on that leg. Thomas shrugged off his backpack and kneeled beside Newt.

"Fine my ass." he muttered as he took Newt's backpack off too. Gally and Minho picked them both up. 

"What are ya bloody doing?" Newt asked and Thomas rolled his eyes at him like he was the biggest idiot of all time.

"Carrying you of course. Shank." he said and Newt furiously shook his head. No way he was going to allow Thomas to make him look that weak. No bloody way. He had just fallen over a rock, for the love of God!

"No, you're not. I'll be fine soon." Newt protested, but Thomas shot him a look that told Newt that he just couldn't argue himself out of this one.

"That leg's gonna be black by the time we get back. I don't need to carry you the whole way, but I will carry you for a while. Now get up." Thomas said and turned his back to Newt. At least he was going to give him a piggyback, and not carry him bridal style. That's always something. Newt put his arms around Thomas' neck and Thomas helped him with his legs. Then he stood up, and Newt assumed he raised an eyebrow at their friends.

"Let's get going, shall we?" he said and began to walk. Newt realized how tired he was. It came so fast it overwhelmed him a bit, and he rested his forehead at the crook of Thomas' neck. He could smell Thomas' shampoo, and it was wonderful. He probably would have appreciated the moment a bit more if his leg hadn't hurt so much. He figured it would hurt for a few days, but it shouldn't stop him from walking once he got some rest, and by the time it was time for Teresa's activity it should be almost back to normal. It just hurt _a lot_ right now. 

He didn't understand how Thomas did it, but he managed to carry Newt all the way back to the bus. Newt had actually been half asleep for most of the time, which meant he was relaxed and heavy, and Thomas cariied him on his back for over an hour. Newt knew Thomas was fit, but he hadn't imagined _that._ When they got back, Thomas simply put Newt to bed after getting something to eat from Fry, and then Newt fell asleep while he could still smell Thomas.

**************

As soon as Minho had heard Zart's plan, he had known it would be a success, and he was right. Newt and Thomas had never left eachother's side all night and now that Newt had hurt his leg Thomas would be all over him around the clock. Even the girls would have a hard time trying to beat this. 

"Great job, dude." he said and clapped Zart on the shoulder. Zart turned around to look at him.

"I know. Newt's leg's unfortunate, though." he said and Minho nodded. It was unfortunate.

"Well," Zart continued with a yawn. "Newt's not the only one who's tired. G'night." He walked over to the bus without waiting for Minho to reply, so he walked over to Teresa instead.

"You're up next." he said and she nodded.

"Yeah. I'll wait a few days though, to let Newt's leg get a bit better." she said, and Minho smiled.

"Good thinking. Just let me now when you think it's time." he said and when she nodded again he walked off the get a few hours of sleep before they had to get on the road again.


	8. Of Ghosts and Views

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a week since Montana, and Newt's leg is better so Teresa decides that it's her turn to try and make the idiots she calls her friends kiss.

"You sure your leg's good enough?" Thomas asked with a really concerned look and Newt rolled his eyes. It was at least the tenth time he had asked that today.

"Yes, Thomas. I am. It was just a bruise. A bloody huge bruise, but only a bruise. I didn't break anthing." he said, and made sure Thomas could hear just how annoyed he was. Teresa had been discussing their next destination with Minho and they were going to spend the afternoon/evening at an amusement park. They had mostly been on the road for the last week because his friends were overly concerned about his leg, so he really looked forward to this. Usually amusement parks weren't really his thing, but neither was paintball and that had been alright. Thomas nodded and finally seemed to accept that Newt was fine. 

"So, T, what'd you know about this amusement park?" Fry asked as she sat down after checking the road with Minho.

"Well, it seems quite big, with a lot of rollercoasters, a haunted house, a ferris wheel and even a restuarant. Should be fun." she replied and Fry nodded.

"How long 'til we're there?" Newt asked. He was getting quite anxious and fiddly after being so still for a week. Teresa smirked.

"Eager to get there, are we? About an hour or so." she said and Newt nodded. An hour, he could live with that. Thomas looked at him with concerned eyes and was on his way to say something but Newt shut him up with a glare. It was cute how much Thomas cared about him, but it was getting annoying. 

**************

Newt was the first of them to get out of the bus. They decided to drop by McDonalds before going to the amusement park. Newt stretched the stiffness out of his limbs and heard Gally laugh behind him.

"You look like a cat that's just been let out of it's cage." he said and Newt gave him a half smile.

"Kinda feel like it too." he said and Gally laughed a bit louder and clapped his shoulder. They followed Teresa since she was the one who got them there in the first place, and ten minutes later they were ordering. It was almost empty, and when Newt saw that it was 2pm he sort of understood why. Most people were still at work, and lunch was over. Thanks to Minho's parents, who were rich like hell and paying for everything they did under the trip, they didn't have to use their own money to pay for their food and that was good. They were ten people after all. Newt settled for Chicken Nuggest and shared a table with Zart, Chuck and Thomas. He hadn't realized just how hungry he was until he started eating, and everything was gone within ten minutes. He leaned back with a content sigh and waited for the rest of them to finish. Twenty minutes later they were back outside. Teresa once again took the lead and Newt followed right after her beside Thomas. He was practically jumping out of his own skin. It felt great to be doing something again. 

Newt would have to tell Teresa how much he loved her at some point. She never failed to amaze him. The amusement park was ineed big and he wanted to try everything at once. They decided to start out with one of the rollercoasters, and wait with the ferry wheel and haunted house until it got darker outside. There was quite a few rollercoasters, and every ride their friends paired up differently, but he got stuck with Thomas every time. It was fun though. There was one rollercoaster that was really tall, and at the top went back down at almost 90 degrees. When they went down Newt actually screamed a bit. He usually didn't because he was tough like that, but now it was like he was literally just fell down from the sky. He wasn't alone though. Thomas screamed too, but it was most out of joy, and he learned that when Minho screamed his voice reached a really high pitch. Newt was so going to mock him about that later. 

7pm they decided that it was time for the haunted house. Newt had looked forward to this. He was one of those people who jumped higher than humanly possible at jump scares, but he loved to test his own limits to see what it would take for him to chicken out. That hadn't happened ever so far. He decided that it was still a good idea to walk next to Thomas because of his calming aura. They were let in two at a time with about two minutes in between. When he and Thomas were let in they were met by complete darkness. The hallway was narrow and cold. There was a wind blowing from somewhere and the sound of an old house creaking. Newt knew it wasn't real, but it still went chills down his spine. He inched closer to Thomas. They walked down the hallway and then heard the sound of an old door opening beside them. They figured they were supposed to go there, so they turned right. The door slammed closed behind them and Newt jumped. Thomas put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't go all chicken on me now, Newtie." he said and Newt could _hear_ the smirk.

"I won't. And don't bloody call me that." he growled back. Then he noticed that the floor was wet. Again he felt chills along his spine. They walked through the room, but in what Newt guessed was about the middle of it he walked into something quite soft hangin from the ceiling, and when he did a girl's scream rang through the room. Newt jumped back and into Thomas. he had _not_ been prepared for that. When he squinted he could see a human shape hanging from a rope. 

"Jesus." he muttered and then continued, carefully avoiding the doll. He waited for Thomas by the door out of the room, and then they walked out together. Now they entered a big hall that was dimly lit up. There were spider webs everywhere, bones littered all over the floor and some sort of psycho laugh flying through it. He carefully walked through it, prepared for jump scares. And sure enough, when he walked past an old wardrobe the door swung open and he had a skeleton falling into him. He let out a yelp and grabbed Thomas' hand out of reflex. As soon as he realized that he let go and shoved the skeleton out of the way. He felt a blush creeping up his neck and refused to look at Thomas. 

Thomas was the victim to the next jump scare. They walked past a broken, fake window and a huge, fake spider jumped right at him and crawled across his body. Thomas screamed in surprise and a bit of fear and before Newt could react, the spider was gone. Thomas bent over and took a few deep breaths. Then he stood up again.

"That was so not necessary." he muttered before taking the lead. When they got out of the hall, they stood at the bottom of some stairs. Thomas rasied and eyebrow at Newt, and he motioned at him to go first. The stairs creaked with every step they took. When they got at the top of them, they were once again surrounded by complete darkness and the temperature dropped with a couple degrees. Further down the corridor, an exit sign glowed and they went on forward. The corridor echoed with the sound of heavy breaths and Newt felt something fly by his face after just a few feet. He once again grabbed Thomas' hand, and this time he didn't let go. He couldn't see a thing, the sound made it feel like he was hunted and he was sure there were more jump scares to come. His hand was probably all sweaty, but he didn't care. He felt a bit reassured when Thomas actually held on to his hand. They slowly made it down the hallway and sometimes something flew by their faces or they heard really scary whispers right next to their ears. At one point Newt felt something heavy move over his feet and heard the sound of a snake. When they got to the exit sign, Newt looked through the door frame. It was pitch black, and it could be stairs as well as a drop down to the ground. He couldn't see any kind of hint to what was before them. They heard a door slam open right next to them. They both held on to eachother's hand for dear life as they jumped around to see what had made the sound. There was a man standing just a few inches away from them. His face was covered in fake blood, and he was smiling wickedly while holding on to an axe. Then he pushed them both through the door frame and they fell backward. Newt held his head up to not hit it, and then they hit something and went downwards. Apparently, the way down was a slide. 

Newt was blinded by the sudden light from the street lights outside the haunted house. He realized he was still holding Thomas' hand and let go of it as he sat up and tried to look around. He spotted Brenda, Minho, Gally and Alby grinning at them.

"Scared, Newt? You're pale as a sheet." Alby teased and Newt grunted and stood up. His legs were shaking, but he decided to blame that on the sudden shock of being pushed into a slide. Thomas stood up next to him and then they waited for Teresa, Fry, Zart and Chuck. All four of them looked like they were scarred for life when they got out. Minho grinned widely at them all.

"That was great! How about we finish it of with the ferry wheel and then send Thomas and Newt on the honorable mission to go grocery shopping before it's time to call it a day?" he suggested and while Thomas and Newt groaned the rest of their friends seemed to think that was an amazing idea. They made their way to the ferry wheel, and it was much bigger when they were standing right next to it.

"Actually... I'm not overly fond of heights, so I'll just wait for you shanks here." Alby said and they nodded. A sign said that the cabins could carry the weight of six persons, but when Newt looked at them there was only enough space for four. He got in the same cabin as Thomas, Gally and Fry and was just going to sit down next to Thomas, when Chuck entered too.

"Chuckie, there's not enough space here for you too." he said and Chuck shrugged.

"Well, I refuse to go by myself or with strangers, and I'm so not going with Minho and Brenda, so you better make some space." the kid replied with determination. Newt looked around for a solution, and then two hands grabbed him by the waist and he found himself in Thomas' lap. He had to fight really hard to stop himself from turning tomato red.

"Now there's space." he heard Thomas' voice from behind him. Chuck looked pleased as he sat down next to them and then they were off. Newt was really tense because this was way more than he could handle. Gally made eye contact with him and winked. Gally bloody _winked_ and that finally got too much for Newt and he couldn't fight the blush. Then they got higher up and the view made him forget all about his situation. The lights of the town and amusement park were fantastic against the darkening sky. He was speechless and didn't look away for one second. Then they were suddenly at back on the ground and he stood up as fast as he could. They got out and waited in silence for the rest of their friends. Newt had an easier time fighting off the blush now that he wasn't sitting in Thomas' shucking _lap,_ but his heart was still pounding so hard he was afraid it would escape his ribcage. The shopping would be so awkward for him.

**************

They all gathered in the bus while Thomas and Newt were gone. Minho looked at all his friends.

"Brenda, you're the last of us. We have failed at getting them together, and if you fail too we'll have to start over. That means we won't have much time to work with because we have to get back home again in just a few weeks. Got any ideas?" he asked her, and to his relief she nodded.

"Yeah. We just need to wait for some bad weather." she said and he raised an eyebrow at her. _What is she planning?_ She shrugged.

"You'll see when it's time." was all she said, and she smirked a bit. They finished their Gathering and got back to their own seats while waiting for the oblivious idiots.


	9. Duets and Snacks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Brenda's turn, and if she fails they will all have to try again. More than half of the summer has passed, but Brenda's been planning this for a while...

The rain was falling heavily, and smattered on the top of the bus. Newt was wrapped inside his duvet because it was quite cold inside the bus. His friends were all doing the same, but Minho and Brenda shared a duvet which probably made them the warmest out of all ten of them.

"Well, you've got your bad weather now, Brenda." Fry muttered and she nodded and turned to Minho.

"Help me out a bit, maybe?" she requested and Minho wrapped the duvet a bit tighter around himself and Brenda.

"This is way cozier." he said, and Newt got a horrible vision of how Minho must have been as a three-year old. He could see Brenda smacking him on the arm under the duvet.

"If you get off your lazy ass and help me you can stay under here for the rest of the day." she smirked and Minho sighed and got up.

"What have you got planned?" Newt asked, because he hadn't heard anything about it, and if the curious looks on his friends' faces were anything to go by, they hadn't either. She pulled out a plastic bag from her things and smiled widely.

"Disney-marathon!" she exclaimed happily and Alby groaned. She pointed at him.

"You're never too old for Disney, young man." she said, even though she was half a year younger than him. He rolled his eyes at her and Newt smiled. With the rain outside, it would be nice watching movies all cuddled up under warm duvets. Minho pulled out a TV he apparently had brought and then grabbed the bag with movies. Brenda went outside for a short while, and then came back with two big bags filled with soda cans, potato chips, jelly beans and all other sorts of snacks. Gally stood up to help her get everything inside.

"You are an actual goddess, Brenda." Thomas said, and Newt shook his head. _Of course._ If anyone could eat all the snacks in the world, it was Thomas.

"Just save something for the rest of us, Tommy." he said and earned himself a glare. Newt patted him on the stomach.

"I'm not calling you fat. Just sayin' that you've got a bloody special sort of abs that absorb calories." he teased and Thomas actually smiled. Minho fake-coughed loudly.

"If Cinderella could stop swooning over Prince Charming, how about we choose a movie?" he said and Newt immediatley moved his hand away from Thomas' stomach. Thomas simply laughed. 

"What movies can we choose from?" Teresa asked and Brenda grinned.

"How about we just let Chuck pick a random movie out of the bag with closed eyes?" she suggested and all of them nodded. Minho held out the bag for Chuck, who closed his eyes and searched for a movie. He held up 'Tangled'. They all shuffled closer to the TV while Minho put the movie in and were sitting close together, both for warmth and because it was nice to cuddle together in front of a movie. Brenda handed out some of the soda cans and then they sat down. Newt sat with his legs crossed and Thomas was leaning on his shoulder. Newt itched to put his arm around Thomas or something like that, but after the amusement park he didn't want to cross any boundaries. But if he was being honest, he felt like their boundaries had become almost extinct during this trip. 

**************

As the movie went on, Newt leaned his head agains Thomas' because he was too tired to sit upright the entire time. He started to hum along when it was time for 'I See The Light'. Thomas hummed along with him. Newt could hear Thomas righ by his ear, and chills went down his spine. When the movie was over, they sat up again and Newt stretched his neck a bit. This time they let Zart pick up a movie, and Newt was quite pleased when it was 'The Lion King'. No one could dislike that movie. The others seemed to share that opinion. More snacks and soda cans were handed out, and now Newt decided to lean against Thomas instead. He turned a bit so he rested his back against the right half of Thomas' upper body and rested the back of his head against the shoulder. It would be more comfortable for both of them. He could feel Thomas rest his hand on Newt's hip, and Newt went all warm and tingly inside, but he dismissed it as support to keep them both up. 

This time, all of them sang along to the songs. Newt knew them by heart. But during 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight', he noticed that only he and Thomas were singing at the end. He hadn't noticed the exact moment when the others stopped, but he guessed they dropped out one by one and that he and Thomas had been singning alone for a while. He blushed slightly, but was sure Thomas didn't notice it from his angle. He decided to not move away either, because that would just be more suspicious. Now Thomas' hand on his hip felt like it was burning a hole in the fabric. 

They continued with 'The Little Mermaid' and Thomas and Newt rearranged again, and now it was Thomas who leaned against Newt's upper body, but he was not leaning on one half of him, but more in the middle. Newt mimicked Thomas and put one hand on his hip for support and then decided to go with a very small risk and rest his chin on Thomas' head. When Thomas didn't react he decided that he was allowed to do it. It was actually really comfortable, and was probably for Thomas too, except maybe with the weight of Newt's head on his. When it was time for 'Kiss The Girl', Minho and Gally were singning along loudly. Newt accidentally made eye contact with Gally, and Gally winked at him. Newt rolled his eyes. Firstly, Thomas weren't a girl, and secondly, Newt was _so_ not going to kiss him. He was already bending their limits. 

They kept that position for another two movies, and then there was a break in the rain. It was about time for dinner, so they sent out Gally, Fry, Zart, Alby and Chuck to get pizza. When they were out of the bus, Thomas sat upright again and turned to Newt.

"How stiff's you neck and back on a scale of 1-10?" he asked teasingly and Newt stretched his neck as reply. Thomas smiled at him.

"Turn around." he said, and Newt raised an eyebrow but obeyed. He felt Thomas put his hand on his shoulders and start to massage them. Then he worked his way up to Newt's neck, then his shoulderblades and finally down his spine to his lower back where he stayed for a while, kneading Newt's quite sore muscles. Then he moved back up to the shoulders again and repeated the same route over his back. After Thomas had repeated it two times, Newt felt himself relax more and Thomas kept massageing him for at least 15 minutes. Then he let go and Newt rolled his shoulders before turning around to look at Thomas.

"Thanks, Tommy." he said and flashed him a smile.

"Don't mention it." Thomas smiled back.

"You guys are adorable." Teresa said, looking up from a book with a smirk. Thomas stuck out his tounge in her direction.

"Really, Tommy?" Newt asked with a questioning look. Thomas huffed out a laugh. They sat in comfortable silence for another ten minutes, and then the doors of the bus opened.

"You guys hungry? I'm starving." Zart greeted and climbed inside. Minho took the two pizzas he was carrying. Soon they all sat down on the flor with one pizza each, in front of Pochahontas. Newt was still very relaxed, and he was not cold anymore (he hadn't been for a few hours, he just noticed it now) and the pizza was delicious.

"So, T, since you wanna be an artist, can you paint with all the colors of the wind?" Gally teased and she sighed and didn't bother to reply. Newt was surprised when Brenda finished her pizza before Thomas finished his. Newt looked at her and she shrugged.

"The pizza was good." he replied and he simply nodded. He couldn't argue that. They watched the movie without interruptions, and then it was Newt's turn to pick a movie, and when he opened his eyes to see what he had got up his heart dropped. _The Fox And The Hound._

"Nope." he said and Thomas smirked at him.

"Getting emotional over that one?" he asked and Newt glared at him.

"Yes, and I'm not alone." he defended himself and Thomas put an arm around him and laughed when Minho snatched the movie out of his hand. Thomas didn't move his arm, so Newt instead leaned against his side with his head on his shoulders and his arm still loosely flung around him. Newt was silent through the whole movie, and he fought back his tears. He was not going to cry because of an animated movie in front of his friends. They would never let it go if he did. He actually managed to do it, and they decided that they would just watch two more movies. It was Thomas' turn now, and he picked 'Lady and the Tramp'. He still didn't move his arm, so Newt didn't move away either. He was not going to to waste an opportunity to be close to Thomas. Not ever. He felt himself relaxing completely and becomg more and more sleepy. During the dinner scene he could barely stay awake, but hey, it wasn't his fault that 'Bella Notte' was so soothing. And it was also kind of calming to feel Thomas' shoulders rise and fall when he breathed. Newt could feel himself falling asleep but didn't try to stay awake. This was probably the best way to fall asleep anyways.

He woke up the next morning, laying on his mattress. He turned his head to the side and saw Thomas sleeping with his mouth wide open, snoring a bit. He smiled at the adorable sight. Then he remembered last night. He had fallen asleep before 'Lady and the Tramp' had been over, which meant that the others had watched one more movie after he was out, and that meant Thomas had either been sitting still and letting Newt sleep on him until they all went to bed or Thomas had put him to bed before that, because none of the others would have done that. He didn't know which alternative was more embarrassing. Then he realized someone had taken his jeans off too, and he was 99% sure that someone was Thomas. He felt a strange mix of embarrassment and fondness. Thomas was so caring. Newt could only imagine how careful he had been not to wake Newt up. He looked outside and saw that it was still dark, and none of his friends were awake, so he turned on his side and fell asleep again. 

**************

When he heard both Newt and Thomas snoring, Minho sat up and so did the rest.

"Are we going to try again, or are we happy with this result? It can't be much more official than this. You should have seen Thomas giving Newt massage." he whispered. He didn't want to risk waking the sleeping beauties up.

"I think we should make sure they kiss or at least actually get in a relationship. I don't think neither of them knows what's really going on." Gally whispered and Minho saw the silhouettes of the others nodding.

"Okay, but now we can't have like five day inbetween each try, we need to be quicker." he whispered back and they all nodded.

"Great. Now sleep. G'night." he finished and as he lay back down he could hear could hear them all replying "G'night." He knew he was up, and tried desperatley to think of something. He finally decided to pull a sort of dick move, in the hope that it would open the idiots' eyes.


	10. The Jealousy-Solution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They are starting over again, and they are all sort of frustrated that they haven't succeeded yet and now they've got less time to do it. Minho gets to begin again, and he thinks he might need to get some other feelings started to make some progress...

"Go put something more decent on, Thomas. We're going out tonight and I won't be seen near you if you're dressed like that." Minho said while buttoning his shirt. They had stopped right outside a quite big city for the night (Newt didn't know the name of it, he had been asleep when they arrived and wasn't too concerned about it so he didn't ask) and Minho wanted them to take a night out and see other people, and he was very concerned about how they looked. Newt had gone for a pair of black jeans, a red shirt, grey cardigan and black boots and had Minho's approval, so he sat on his mattress and waited for the rest of them. He even had his glasses on because Thomas said that he looked really good in them and the rest had agreed with him. 

Thomas finally went with a pair of light blue jeans, that made his ass look great by the way, a simple black tee that showed off a bit of his collarbones, a plaid shirt in navy and white that he didn't bother buttoning and had the sleeves rolled up, a grey beanie and white Nike sneakers. In conclusion, Newt thought he looked great and Minho finally approved of his choice of clothes. The rest of them looked equally good. Gally wore a tee and showed off his muscles and a pair of ripped jeans, Teresa wore a short, white, dress with a long, black cardigan, Brenda wore a short denom skirt and a black tank top and Minho wore a shirt with the sleeves rolled up and dark jeans. 

They left the bus and went to look for a bar. They rounded a corner and almost ran into a group of seven girls about their age, and the girls (who had been giggling and talking) grew quiet for a couple of seconds while they eyed their group. One of them very obviously checked Gally out, and Gally checked her out too. Another one winked at Zart who looked really awkward. Just like Newt, he wasn't too comfortable with these sort of situation. Most of the girls though, looked Thomas up and down. Then the girls started to talk to them. Two went to talk to Minho, Brenda and Teresa, Gally proceeded to flirt with the girl he'd been checking out, Zart looked like he was about to fake passing out to get out of his conversation with the girl ho had checked him out, and the other three girls started talking to Thomas. One of them was a gorgeous blonde, and she seemed to be the leader of her group.

"So, where are you from?" 

"Got a girlfriend?"

"What are you guys doing tonight?" 

"Navy's really your color, d'you know that?"

"I love brunettes."

Newt stood right next to Thomas and listened to them, completely forgotten. Thomas answered the questions without any hint of being uncomfortable, he even flirted back. Newt stayed quiet and felt a sting of jealousy. He didn't like girls flirting with Thomas, especially not gorgeous blondes who would only need to say one word to get him. Right when Newt was beginning to feel like throwing punches to get the girls away, one of the girls talking to Minho, Brenda and Teresa interrupted.

"We have to go now, or your parents won't ever let you go out with us anymore, Katie." she said, and Newt would be eternally grateful for her. The blonde sighed. 

"Crap. Well, it was nice meeting you, Tommy." she said with a wink and Newt had to restrain himself to not punch her. Only he could call Thomas that. Even Thomas looked uncomfortable at that. Then he smiled.

"Please, don't call me that. Nice meeting you too, Katie." he said in a light tone, and Newt immediatley felt a lot better, and it didn't make him feel less good when a hurt look flashed through the girl's face before she smiled and nodded goodbye. Newt wanted to dance. He was still the only who got to call Thomas 'Tommy'. Not even stranger who they would never meet again was allowed to call him that. Newt felt a sudden urge to call him 'Tommy' while the blonde could still hear them, but decided against the idea. Thomas would know that he was just trying to mock her. They walked away to keep searching for a bar.

"You were very quiet, Newt." Thomas teased him and Newt smirked.

"I just kept quiet because they would all have been all over me after hearing my accent and I didn't want to cockblock ya." he said and Thomas rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, sure." he said and Newt smirked more.

"You know how bloody much american girls love british accents. I can always prove it with the next girl that flirts with you." he teased and Thomas looked at him with a grin.

"Sure. But your accent isn't as evident anymore." he replied and Newt risked putting an arm around Thomas' shoulders.

"Tommy, Tommy, Tommy. It's just because you're used to it. And also, I can always make it a bit broader." he said, and changed his accent at the last sentence to Scottish just to prove the point. Thomas just laughed and then they dropped the subject. They found a combined restaurant and pub and went inside. The people working there didn't even question Chuck's presence, probably because his whole group of friends were obviously of drinking age, and the way he had dressed made him look a bit older too. They all ordered food and beers, and then talked for a while, before another group of people around their age came in through the door, but this time it wasn't only girls. The group sat down at the table next to theirs and ordered. Then one of the girls turned around to talk to Thomas and Newt prepared himself to start talking at the right moment.

"Where are you from, then?" she asked in a really sweet voice. She was quite pretty too.

"We're all from Washington State, but we're on a road trip right now." Thomas replied and the girl smiled a wide smiled that showed white teeth.

"Road trip? That sounds fun! Where have you been?" she asked and Thomas looked over at Newt, questioning. Apparently he too thought it was time to try Newt's theory out. Newt made eye contact with the girl and smiled.

"We've been on the road for weeks, so we've been all over. But Carlifornia, Montana and Nevada are three states we've been to, and we just left Colorado." he said, and made sure that no one could miss his accent. As a reward, he got the attention of all the girls and even a few guys.

"You're British?" the girl asked and he nodded.

"Yeah. But I've lived here for about five years. What's your name?" he asked politely. She flashed him a huge smile.

"Erica. And yours is Newt, right?" she asked and he nodded.

"Isaac, actually, but everyone calls me Newt because of my last name so it's only my grannie who still calls me Isaac." he explained and made a few of the girls giggle.

"That's adorable." Erica said with the same expression as if she was looking at a puppy. Newt cringed at the sight on the inside, but instead of letting it show he just rubbed his neck with a shy smile.

"Not really. It's just bloody annoying because I'm so used to Newt." This time he made all the girls giggle, and one or two of the boys too, when he said 'bloody'. Erica seemed to have forgotten about Thomas completely. Newt was saved from more talking though, because their food arrived.

"I'll let you eat in peace." Erica said with another sweet smile and Newt just smiled back. When he turned to Thomas he raised an eyebrow and Thomas rolled his eyes.

"Told ya, Tommy." he said as he stuffed his mouth full of spaghetti.

"Yeah yeah." Thomas replied sarcastically and Newt smirked. He hadn't expected it to go that well, but Thomas didn't need to know that. Gally rasied an eyebrow at him and he just shrugged. He talked to his friends while they ate, and made sure to not go back to his usual accent because the other group could still hear them. Apparently the group were fast eaters, and they were done beore them even though they got their food later. Erica smiled at him as she walked past.

"Nice meeting you, Newt." she said as she slid a note with he assumed was her number on it. He smiled widely back at her.

"It was my pleasure." he replied and kept his happy look until the entire group was out of the door. Then he rolled his eyes.

"Jesus. 'That's adorable. Yours is Newt, right? You're British?" he said in an overly light tone. Minho laughed.

"Newt, flirting. That's not something you see every day." he said and Newt snorted.

"Just because I don't do it, doesn't mean I can't. Thomas didn't believe me when I said I could steal his girls with my accent." he said and their whole group laughed.

"You better not keep him around, Thomas." Fry teased and Thomas rolled his eyes, then smirked at Newt.

"Did she give you her number?" he asked and Newt unfolded the note, and showed it to Thomas.

"You could say that." he said and Thomas eyed the note.

"You got all their numbers? Wow, I'm genuinley impressed. And look at all the kisses, _Isaac._ " he said and Newt punched me in the arm.

"Don't call me that." he said. They finished their food and drinks, and then went out again. They walked around in the city, and apparently a lot of people were out during the nights. Quite a lot of girls, and even a few guys, flirted with Thomas but Newt didn't say anything. He had made his point clear and wasn't going to stop Thomas. A few girls still flirted with him and he flirted back just because he didn't feel like being rude and reject them tonight. Every time that happened, he thought he saw Thomas' jaw clench a bit, but he dismissed it as his eyes playing games with him. Thomas could get almost any girl he wanted, so there was no way he could be jealous of Newt. He also knew that Newt were about as straight as a circle covered in rainbow-colored glitter, so he simply couldn't be jealous because Newt had some girls flirting with him since nothing would happen with them anyways. The night went on, and around 1am they decided that it was time for them to make their way back to the bus. Newt was tired so he took up the lead together with Alby and Zart. He let Thomas walk in the back with Minho.

**************

Thomas sighed as soon as Newt couldn't hear anymore and Minho looked at him.

"What's up?" he asked, and Thomas' eyes looked heavier than they had done just minutes ago.

"It's just... I don't like it when other people flirt with Newt. Especially when he flirt back even though I know nothing's gonna happen, at least not with the girls. I thought I've made my crush quite obvious with all the touching and even "joked" and said said that he'd been too busy to ask me out when you said that I looked like my crush asked me out." Thomas said and Minho put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sure he only recognizes flirting when he expetcs it, like when random people approach him when he's out. I'm sure he'll realize soon." he tried saying as support, and Thomas nodded and walked the rest of the way in silence. Minho didn't like the unnecessary suffering his friends went through, but telling them about the other's feelings would probably make his other friends angry. He simply had to hop that Alby did a good job.

**************

"What?" Alby asked him after a while and Newt sighed. Both Alby and Zart knew him to well to believe him if he said 'nothing'.

"I hate it when other people flirt with Thomas and he flirts back." he said quietly and Zart put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's just in his nature. I've never actually seen him date someone who initiated the flirted, only those who he started it with. I think you're safe." he said and Newt nodded. Zart actually had a point. It was always Thomas who initaited the whole thing when he started to date someone. Newt assumed Thomas simply wasn't afraid to go after what he wanted and therefore always was the first to make a move if he was interested. It actually made him feel a bit better. Thomas hadn't initated flirting with anyone in almost a year that he could remember. Maybe that was good.


	11. You're The True Art

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Alby's turn again, and he's all out of ideas, so he decides to do something based on Newt's interests

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! So, I'll be gone on vacation for about a week, so this will be the last chapter in a while. I'll continue as soon as I get back home though. And I'm sorry it's not that long, I just didn't really know what to write for this chapter. Hope you like it anyways.  
> Enjoy! ^^

"Art museum? That doesn't sound like you, Al." Newt said when he heard what Alby wanted them to do. Newt thought he was the only one in their group besides Teresa who was even the slightest interested in art. Alby shrugged.

"Well, neither you or Thomas has said anything you want to do so I decided to choose something you'll enjoy." he said and Newt felt warm at that. He didn't know his friends had noticed that.

"You didn't need to do that, but I appreciate it." he said and smiled. Alby smiled back.

"Closest art museum then! Anyone know where we're going?" Minho asked and they all grew quiet while they checked Google. Then Zart found something and showed it to Minho, who simply nodded, took Zart's phone and looked the way up. 

"Buckle up, we've got a two hours drive ahead." he said and they all did as they were told. Newt kept a straight face so he ouldn't show just how excited he was. He loved art, but rarely got the chance to visit museums. He had to remember to thank Alby later.

**************

"Newt, you look like you've just been told the meaning of life." Gally said when they went inside. Newt flipped him off over his shoulder while he studied a statue of a woman. His friends laughed and he smiled to himself. Teresa stood next to him and studied the statue, too.

"Y'know, Newt, this is the straightes thing I've ever seen you do." Fry joked and Newt laughed. It wasn't a secret that he'd been for as long as he could remember. They continued, and Newt was really happy when he saw that Thomas was actually paying attention to the art, and not just taking photos and added funny captions to them on Snapchat like the others. Thomas then turned to him with a smirk.

"Why waste time looking at the paintings when you are the true work of art here?" he said and Newt laughed to stop himself from blushing. He decided to try to say something like that back.

"Still not on your level, Tommy." he replied and Gally made a puking noise behind them. Thomas just rolled his eyes and winked at Newt.

"Just kiss already, would you?!" Chuck exclaimed and Thomas put an arm around Newt's shoulders and ruffled his hair.

"Maybe later, wouldn't want to distract you lot from the art now, would we?" he smirked and pressed his lips against Newt's temple, and _bloody hell._ Newt wouldn't be able to handle much more of stuff like that. It was like was in an actual relationship with Thomas, but he wouldn't allow himself to think stuff like that because as far as he knew Thomas had never shown any sign at all that he was into guys too and Newt was pretty sure he liked Teresa. It wasn't physically possible to fight the blush now, and Thomas laughed and poked his nose before stepping out of Newt's personal space.

"You're so cute when you're blushing." he said and Newt blushed even more. Minho stared at them, and then shook his head.

"I don't know if you've been flirting constantly for the whole trip or if you're actually in some sort of secret relationship." he sighed and Thomas smirked.

"Believe me, if I got to tap that glorious ass you'd be the first to know." he answered, and that was it for Newt. He wouldn't say anything else and hope that they let the subject go, and then he needed to find a bathroom and calm himself down. If he just left now that wouldn't exactly help him keep his _stupid_ crush secret. Thankfully they did exactly that after Gally, Minho and Fry all faked throwing up. He let five minutes pass, and then he excused himself quietly.

He stood in front of a mirror and tried to calm his beating heart down. He splashed his face with some ice cold water. He couldn't do this. If Thomas would keep that up, he might actually end up either breaking down in front of everyone or kiss Thomas, for real, and he didn't know which would be worse. He stood still and took deep breaths for about five minutes before he felt composed enough to join his friends. They were still where he had left them, and for some reason Thomas looked slighty uncomfortable. But that look disappeared as soon as he saw Newt. 

"Did I miss anything?" he asked and they all shook their heads.

"Nope." Teresa simply said, and then she went back to studying one of the paintings and Newt joined her. 

The rest of the day went on without any more hardships for Newt, and he appreciated that. They simply spent a few hours at the museum, and then Minho decided that they all deserved a treat, so they went to a real resaurant and not just McDonalds for dinner. It was quite fun, because Fry kept commenting on what they could have done to make the food better. When he commented on the vegetables Zart argued a bit with him, but they came to a conclusion they both agreed with. Then they just sat in the bus playing card games with one of Brenda's lists on Spotify playing in the background. Newt was happy and almost managed to forget the torture he had been through at the museum. Then it was time to go to bed.

Everything came crashing back. He felt Thomas' lips pressed against his temple and his heart picked up its pace again. It had given him just a hint of how a relationship with Thomas would be, and it was wonderful. He was actually scared that something like that would happen again, because he wasn't sure he would be able to let Thomas go in that case.

He turned to his side and tried to surpress the feelings so he could fall asleep.

**************

Minho lay on his mattress and thought back to the conversation they had had with Thomas when Newt had been away for five minutes. As soon as Newt was out of the room, Thomas had started to hit his head against the wall. They had asked him what was up, and he had started to complain about how stupid he was to do stuff like that with Newt. They had all tried to tell him that it wasn't stupid at all and that Newt probably didn't mind, but Thomas had apparently taken Newt's blushing the wrong way. The rest of them knew that it was because Newt was totally in love with Thomas, but Thomas thought Newt had blushed just because he had been uncomfortable and too nice to tell Thomas no. 

Minho almost let out an audible sigh. This competition of theirs had stopped being funny by now. It was only making it worse for Newt and Thomas, spending so much time with eachother and falling more and more in love every day but not daring to say anything about it. He simply hoped that all the angst would eventually make them decide to talk to eachother. It was painful even to him. All the looks they gave when the other looked the other way, all the flirting, the reassuring touches, the light cuddling... He understood why Newt had needed to take a break. He probably thought Thomas was only into girls, and when Thomas kissed his forehead and "joked" about wanting to be in a relationship with Newt... Well, he would need to be alone for a few minutes too if he were in Newt's shoes.

He turned around and saw that Brenda was looking at him.

"You're thinking so loud it's a wonder you haven't woken anyone up." she whispered and he nodded.

"I'm just worried about Newt and Thomas." he whispered back. She gave him a slight smile.

"I know. But there's not much we can do. If we get back home before something happens I'll simply tell them both. We'll have to simply hope for the best." she replied and took his hand. He nodded, smiled and hugged her hand. He was so lucky to have her. She bent forward and gave him a slight peck on the cheek.

"You should get some sleep, you need to drive again tomorrow." she said and they cuddled a bit closer. Minho put and arm around her waist and she rested her head against his collarbone.

"I know. G'night, honey." he whispered into her ear.

"Sleep well." she mumbled into his shoulder.


	12. The Easy Way Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're tired of watching their friends suffering, and when Gally, Fry and Chuck are out of ideas Zart decides to take over and make sure Thomas and Newt get together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally back! I've been planning this chapter for a while. It was meant to be three more chapters before this with Gally, Fry and Chuck, but I thought it was time for them to finally get together. Tell me in the comments if you want me to write those other three chapters with Tommy and Newt as a couple, otherwise the next chapter will be the last one, a bit epilouge-ish.  
> Thanks for sticking with the story and enjoy! xxx

"I'm out of ideas, so it's up to you, Fry, what we do next." Gally finally said after thinking for ten minutes about what he wanted them to do. He sat back as Fry closed his eyes to think.

"I don't know either. Chuck, you're up." he sighed and rubbed his face. The kid stared at him.

"I thought you two would think of something before it was my turn! I have no idea!" he exclaimed, and Newt almost suggested that they go home a bit earlier than intended. This trip had been the best few weeks in his life so far, but after the museum things were a bit awkward between him and Thomas and that made the trip a bit less fun. They both knew things were awkward, but they both pretended it wasn't and didn't talk about it. But Newt saw in Thomas' eyes that he knew things weren't like they used to, and that he knew that Newt knew. They weren't as physical as they had been either. God how Newt missed being snuggled up under a blanket with Thomas during movie nights and being able to rest his head against his shoulder.

He didn't suggest they go home, though, for two reasons. One, his friends wouldn't agree to it anyways. And two: Zart sighed and started talking before he could even open his mouth.

"Okay then. Here's my suggestion: we spend tonight playing Truth or Dare. We haven't done that yet and it's pretty much mandatory when people our age go on a road trip with their friends." he said, leaning against one of the walls with closed eyes. Newt groaned. Truth or Dare, a.k.a Tell Us Who Your Crush Is Or Perfom A Sexual Act With Someone, was exactly what he didn't need right now. He glanced over at Thomas, and he seemed to pray to every God in exitence for the strength he would need to survive the evening. The rest of their friends seemed to love the idea, though.

"You are an actual genius, Zart!" Minho shouted and the rest seemed to agree with that statement. Newt fell back to the floor. Tonight was going to be a long night.

*************

They all sat down in a cricle on their mattresses. Minho rubbed his hands and looked at Zart.

"So, Zart, you suggested this so you begin." he smirked and Zart simply nodded and turned to Thomas.

"Thomas... Truth or dare?" he asked and Thomas seemed to actually start to enjoy the evening already. Newt simply prayed that he would survive the night without having to reveal his crush or do something sexual with Thomas. Zart smirked.

"Do you have a crush on someone in this bus?" he asked, and Thomas almost looked offended, which Newt couldn't really understand. Sure, maybe Thomas didn't want to answer, but that wouldn't make himm look offended.

"You already know that!" Thomas protested and Newt understood. He would also feel pretty offended if someone asked him a question they already knew the answer to.

"But maybe someone else don't." Zart smirked and Thomas shot him a death-glare.

"Fine. Yes, I have a crush on someone in this bus." Thomas answered and Newt felt like someone punched him in the gut. He had been right, Thomas liked Teresa. He had thought he was prepared to actually get proof for that, but apparently he wasn't. He suddenly felt like leaving the bus and walk the way back home. He was interrupted by Thomas turning to him.

"Newt, truth or dare?" he asked and Newt felt himself panicking. What the bloody hell should he choose?

"Ummm.... Truth?" he said, a bit unsure. Thomas smiled at him.

"You got a crush on someone currently?" he asked, and Newt thought this proved his point with the alternate name for the game while he fought down a blush.

"Yes." he simply said and then turned to Alby, and Thomas eyes flashed with something that looked like hurt. The look was over so quickly that Newt only thought he imagined it, though.

"Alby, truth or dare?" he asked, and Alby looked quite confident, like he knew Newt wouldn't make him say anything about his love life or do something he didn't like. Newt decided to punish his friends for making him play this stupid game.

"Dare." Alby said, and sounded like he was curious about what Newt would make him do. He probably expected the cinnamon challenge or something. Newt thought for a while and decided to start out easy.

"Go kiss Gally on the cheek." he said and leaned back against the wall with his arms crossed and a completely neutral expression. Alby choked on the air. Clearly, he hadn't expected that from Newt. Newt had to fight to keep his neutral expression and not start smirking. He was in this to kill, and only psyhopaths smirked while they were out killing. Alby did get up and walk over to Gally though. He pressed his lips against Gally's cheek and Gally turned red while Alby almost jumped back to his seat. Newt couldn't fight the smirk anymore. Minho looked quite impressed.

"I didn't know you had it in you, Newt." he said and sounded a bit proud. Newt raised an eyebrow at him.

"You make me play this stupid bloody game, you get punished." he said, and then it was Alby's turn. Newt couldn't keep from laughing when he made Fry call one of the girls who had given Newt her number and try and flirt with her with Newt's accent. Fry had never in his life tried talking with a british accent, and no one could miss that. It was simply hilarious. Then Fry made Gally sing the most embarrasing song he actually liked. They all roared with laughter when Gally's face got the same color as a tomato and started singing Hips Don't Lie. Apparently Teresa and Minho felt bad for him, because Teresa started singing with him while Minho stood up to dance, moving his hips as much as humanly possible. Newt was laughing so hard his stomach hurt and he couldn't sit up. He automatically leaned against Thomas. Thomas, surprisingly, didn't seem to mind and instead put a hand on Newt's back to support him.

When the song was over and it was Gally's turn, he looked at Newt with a look that made Newt regret his move with Alby earlier. He swallowed and decided that he would _not_ choose dare.

"Newtie, truth or dare?" Gally asked in an overly sweet voice. Newt knew he would regret his whole life after this.

"Truth." he said, and he didn't mean for it to come out as a whisper, but it did. He would die tonight, he was sure of it. Gally smirked, and Newt thought that smirk made him look like the devil himself.

"Why don't you tell us all who your crush is. I'm dying to know." he said, and Newt felt his whole world caving in. His friends would never let him refuse to answer, and Gally knew about his crush so he would know if Newt lied. He shot Gally a glare just to let him know that he was a dead man walking, and then he looked down at a spot on his socks.

"Tommy." he whispered, so quietly that he could barely hear it himself.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I caught that." Gally said and Newt looked at him with the strongest death glare he could manage.

"I said 'Tommy' you bloody shuckface." he said, this time in his normal tone. Newt kept staring at Gally, because he didn't dare looking at Thomas and was afraid he would do just that if he looked away from Gally. He felt Thomas leaning towards him.

"We need to talk." Thomas said in a low voice in his ear, and Newt took a deep breath to calm down when Thomas stood up and walked outside. Newt tried to accept the fact that he was about to get totally rejected, probably as a friend too. He stood up on shaking legs and flipped Gally off over his shoulder as he followed Thomas outside. 

They were staying beside a lake. Newt saw Thomas leaning against the railing of the jetty and walked over and stood beside him with his heart beating rapidly. He didn't dare look at Thomas just yet. They were silent for much longer than Newt would have preferred.

"For how long?" Thomas finally asked and Newt thought for a while.

"Realized it about nine months ago, but probably longer than that still." he answeres quietly. He didn't trust his voice to not break if he talked louder then that. Then Thomas turned to him, and Newt decided that he still didn't dare to look at Thomas.

"How much do you remember about the reason the last girl I dated broke up with me? Harriet?" Thomas asked, and the question was so out of the blue that Newt couldn't stop himself from looking at Thomas with a confused face. He was surprised that he couldn't see any trace of disgust or something like that in Thomas' face. Then he thought about what he remembered.

"I think you said it was something about her being mad because she thought you saw someone else too much instead of her. You didn't say who, but I'm assuming Teresa?" Newt replied and made sure to make it sound a bit like a question. Thomas nodded and Newt felt his stomach drop all the way to the bottom of the lake.

"You're right about the reason. Not the person though." Thomas said, and Newt couldn't help but look surprised. Thomas scratched his neck.

"She was jealous of you." Thomas said and turned back to the lake. Newt was in shock. What? Had Thomas really said that? No, he must have heard wrong.

"What?" he simply said, and his voice sounded exactly as surprised as he felt. Thomas nodded.

"Yeah. It took me a while to understand what she meant by that, but then I realized it on one of our movie nights with pizza. I've had a key to your apartment for what? Two years now? You've got a key to mine. I've spent at least one hour every afternoon studying with you, when I got no food at home I just go to your apartment and start cooking, it doesn't matter if you're in the shower or something. We've practically been living together for two-or-something years. And after I realized that, I realized that I didn't mind the sound of that,living with Newt. Then it took me about a week to figure out exactly how I feel about you. It was the first day this year we could actually sit outside and study. The sun shone and made your hair look like a halo, and you were laughing about something I said and I just suddenly decided that it was the most beautiful sound i've ever heard." Thomas said, staring at the water all the time. Then he turned to Newt again when he finished the last sentence. Newt simply stood there and stared in awe. He couldn't wrap his mind around it. If Thomas was saying what he thought he was saying...

"Are you trying to say that I could have made a move all the time since April?" he asked, and Thomas smiled.

"Basically, I guess. I've been trying to make my crush obvious since then, but apparently you're better at maths than humans." he replied, and smirked a little bit. Newt rolled his eyes. At least now he knew what all the extra touches had been all about. Now that he knew, it was actually quite obvious. He didn't get to think about it any further though. All of a sudden he felt Thomas pressing his lips his own. Newt stiffened at first, because he was so surprised by the move, but quickly melted into the kiss. He grabbed two fistfuls of the front of Thomas' shirt while placed his arms around Newt's neck. Their lips moved softly against eachother and it felt way better than what Newt had imagined. Thomas' lips were so soft and warm against his own, which he had been biting on all day so they were pretty chapped. Neither of them deepened the kiss, and when they finally broke apart, Thomas was smiling widely at him.

"God, I've wanted to do that for so long." he said, and Newt couldn't help but smile goofily.

"You should've done it. Would've saved us a lot of bloody time." he said and Thomas laughed. Then he laced their fingers together.

"We should probably make our way back." he said and pressed his lips quickly on Newt's forhead. Newt nodded and they walked back ti the bus, hand in hand.

**************

As soon as Newt closed the door behind himself, Minho turned to Gally.

"That was a bit forward, don't you think? Newt's probably panicking and thinking he's about to die right now." he said, and didn't care to hide the little bit of accusation that he had in his voice. Gally shrugged.

"Then he will get a great surprise, and I'm saving us a lot of time." he replied and Minho leaned back against the wall with an arm flung around Brenda's shoulders. There was nothing to do but wait.

He couldn't help but smile when Newt and Thomas finally returned. They had been outside for at leat half and hour, but at least they were holding hands now. He turned to Zart.

"I believe you win. Congratulations." he said and Zart bowed a bit sarcastically. Gally protested.

"I was the one who asked Newt who his crush were!" he said and Minho jokingly rolled his eyes.

"But this was Zart's suggestion. You did a great job with the beach, though." he said and Zart clapped Gally on the shoulder.

"We can share the victory, bro." he said and Gally smiled at him before turning back to Minho.

"See? _That's_ how you treat a friend." he said and Minho rolled his eyes again. Then he turned his attention back to Newt and Thomas.

"Waitwaitwait, what are ya talkin' about?" Newt asked with a confused look. It became obvious that no one else was going to explian the whole thing, so Minho scratched his neck nervously. He hadn't thought about this situation.

"Well... We've sort of had this competition to see which one of us could make the two of you get together..." he said carefully, and Newt tried to look offended, but Minho didn't really think that worked out because of the silly smile on his face.

"You did _what?_ You bloody bastards!" Newt exclaimed and swatted Minho playfully on the head while Thomas was laughing his ass off. Minho smiled. Finally, the two idiots had made it.

"Just be careful with the affection, guys. I've barely been able to watch the two of you during this trip without puking, so please keep your hands off eachother." Gally joked, and Fry decided to join in.

"Exactly. And keep in mind that there's children around." he said and nodded towards Chuck, who looked quite offended. Thomas rolled his eyes and pulled Newt closer to kiss him demonstrativley. Gally screamed in horror while Fry covered Chuck's eyes. The rest of them were laughing. MInho smiled widely and pulled Brenda closer. This was how it was supposed to be.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas and Newt are finally together, and it's Gally's turn to decide what they're going to do since it's two weeks left until they need to get back home. The girls won't get to decide anything this time around, so he decides to consult them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seems like you guys want those three extra chapters, and your wish is my command ;) I noticed that my plans for this chapter were a bit to much like the chapter with Fry's bonfire and that, so I had to last minute-brainstorm a new idea. But I hope it will turn out okay.  
> Enjoy! ^^

"So I've consulted with the ladies..." Gally said and put one arm around Brenda and the other one around Teresa. Newt was resting his head against Thomas' shoulder, smiling. He didn't really care how stupid Gally's suggestion was, he would be down for pretty much anything now.

"We are doing two things. First, we'll spend the day shopping. In my defens, it was two against one when we voted. And then we'll have a music comeptition after dinner." he said and shrugged. Newt thought that sounded pretty okay. Usually he didn't like shopping that much, but he had a feeling shopping could never be boring with his friends. They had made canoeing and Disney movies fun, for God's sake.

"Okay. Sounds okay. I'll search for the nearest mall, then." Minho said and got up from his position on the floor. Thomas put his arm around Newt.

"Well... We need to do something about you lack of graphic tees." he said jokingly and Newt snorted.

"And your lack of sweaters." he replied and Thomas laughed. Then he bent to kiss Newt on the cheek. Newt heard Fry making puking noises from somewhere behind them. Newt looked up at him and flipped him off.

"We've got a few months to make up for. And it was you lot who made it a bloody competition to get us together so ya only got yourselves to blame." he said jokingly and Fry ruffled both their heads as he walked past.

"I know, I know. We're all happy for you, even if we pretend we aren't." he said before walking over to Minho to say something. Newt fell back on his mattress. His friends were literally the best.

**************

"What'd you guys think?" Teresa asked as she held up a light blue dress. 

"It'd look amazing on you. Blu and green are definitely your colors." Newt said, and he meant it. Teresa would look stunning in that dress. She smiled brightly at him before searching for one her size. Minho had assured them all that they practically just had to look for anything they liked and take it, and they all knew that that was true. His parents were incredibly rich. Not maybe on Steve Job's level, but his dad came from a wealthy family and they were both very successful in their business. But so far only the girls were really using the offer. They were both carrying a whole lot of clothes, and it was only their second shop. But they had all bought something in the first one, which meant that Thomas had made Newt get two new graphic tees, and he had also found a new pair of light blue jeans. Newt had also made Thomas buy a grey sweater that really favored his body. 

"This would look pretty good together with your navy shirt." Thomas suddenly said and reappeared by Newt's side, holding a dark maroon cardigan. Newt actually agreed. It would look great with that shirt. He took it and looked at it.

"Yeah, it would." he said and smiled at Thomas as he hung the cardigan over his arm. Thomas went back to look at clothes and Newt followed him this time. He looked through the clothes and found two sweaters and a couple of shirts. Then he found a black hoodie with maroon details and went to show it to Thomas.

"This would look great together with those dark grey jeans you never bloody wear." he said and didn't even hold it up for Thomas to see, but just hung it over his arm and went to look for more clothes. Soon he was done, and moste of the others were too. They only waited for Zart, Chuck and the girls. Thomas and Newt stood close to eachother while they waited, and Newt decided to rest his arm around Thomas' waist. 

After they had payed for everything, the girls decided that it was time for shoes, and Minho groaned.

"This is going to take at least 100 years." he muttered as he walked past Newt. Now Thomas found a new pair of sneakers and a pair of boots, and Newt found one black pair of leather boots, and one brown. The girls had a harder time choosing shoes though, so they forced Newt, Alby and Minho to give them their opinions on every bloody pair they tried on. After roughly an hour they were finally done, and Newt was so tired of shoes he almost wanted to take the pair he wore off and throw them away. Thomas simply laughed at him and took his hand. They stopped for lunch at McDonalds, and then they continued. 

When they finally got back to the bus, Newt fell down on his mattress. He was _exhausted._ He never thought shopping could make anyone this tired. Luckily, he wasn't alone. Minho did as him, and Gally sat down, shouting "Finally! I can rest!"

Thomas sank down on his own mattress and smiled fondly at Newt.

"Not used to this, huh?" he asked and Newt just shook his head with his face buried in his pillow.

"Sit up." Thomas commanded, not unkindly but made sure to let Newt know that protesting wouldn't do him any good. Newt groaned and did as he was told. Thomas moved so he sat behind Newt. Then he put his hands on his shoulders and started massaging.

"This worked last time." he simply said as he worked on Newt's back, and Newt relaxed completely. Thomas really had magical hands. When Thomas let go after about twenty minutes, Newt fell back and rested a bit against him. Thomas himself leaned bakcwards against the wall and then they stayed that way. Thomas played a bit with his hair, and eventually Newt fell asleep.

**************

"Hey, Newt. Wake up. Dinner's ready." Thomas said and Newt sat up. He was still leaning against Thomas.

"Tommy, you know you could have moved me or something, right? You don't look too comfortable." he mumled and Thomas pecked him lightly on the nose. 

"No worries. It wasn't too bad, you're not that heavy." he said and then stood up. He held out a hand to help Newt up and he took it. Apparently, Fry had set up blankets outside so they could sit there and eat. Newt was delighted to see that tonight's food were chicken sallad. He loved chicken, and Fry's sallads were fantastic. They all talked to eachother and joked around a bit while they ate, and after that they made their way back inside. Then Newt remembered. _Oh God, it's the bloody music thing._ They all sat down on the floor and listened to Gally explain what they were about to do.

"You'll pair up two and two, and to make it even me and Teresa won't be playing. I'll play some the intros to some songs, and then one in your pair have to be the first to sing a bit from the song to get the point. Teresa will be keeping the score. Questions?" he asked, and they all shook their heads. Newt thought that this could be pretty easy, as long as Gally doesn't choose the most obscure songs he can find.

"What are the pairs, then?" Gally asked, and Newt scotted even closer to Thomas. If he was going to play this with anyone, it was him or Brenda, but Brenda was already leaning against her boyfriend, so Newt would have to go for the second biggest music nerd in their group. Fry teamed up with Zart and Chuck with Alby, and then they were ready to go.

"First song!" Gally shouted and pressed something on his phone and the intro started playing. Then he paused and waited for them to answer. Newt knew the song, but he just couldn't remeber any of it so he simply prayed that Thomas would save them, becasue he was in this to win. Then Minho started singing "This is why I'm hot, this is why I'm hot. This is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot." and Newt wanted to hit his head against the wall. Why hadn't he remembered that. Minho whopped when Teresa declared that he got the point. 

Next song Newt knew instantly and started singing as soon as Minho turned it off: "Baby I'm preying on you tonight, hunt you down, eat you alive." Alby started singing at the same time, though, so Teresa and Gally had to discuss, before they gave the point to Newt. Thomas clapped him on the shoulder and then Gally started playing the next song. 

"If I was your boyfriend, I'd never let you go. I can take you places you ain't ever been before." Zart sang, and Newt almost laughed because that was such a contrast from Fall out Boy, which was what Zart usually listened to. Teresa actually laughed as she gave the point to him.

They kept at it for at least two hours, and gradually got more and more dramatic when they sang. Gally played, among others, 'Sexy And I Know It', 'Shake It Off', 'Single Ladies', 'Staying Alive', 'Bohemian Rhapsody' (which Newt just had to sing the Galileo-part of, even if it was Fry who sang it), 'Let It Go' and 'Wrecking Ball'. Newt laughed so hard he almost passed out when Thomas dramatically sang Celine Dion to him. The whole thing was hilarious.

Then they grew quiet as Teresa and Gally counted the points. Newt really hoped they would win, because he thought they had done a bloody good job. 

"And the winners are... drumroll please." Gally said, and Thomas, Zart and Brenda quickly clapped their hands against their kneecaps.

"It's a tie between Brenda and Minho and Thomas and Newt!" he exclaimed and Newt was pleased with that. They had been up against Brenda, after all.

**************

Newt was lying on his mattress, and so were Thomas. They had all spent the evening continuing to sing along dramatially to different songs that moste of them oly listened to ironically. Now he and Thomas were spooning, and Newt was the little spoon. It was amazing. Just last week he would have thought this impossible, but here he was: feeling Thomas' arm around his waist and his breath against his neck. He smiled to himself.

"Go to sleep, Newt." Thomas muttered and Newt shivered when he felt Thomas lips move lightly against his neck.

"I'm bloody trying, Tommy." he mumbled and Thomas snuggled closer, boring his nose into the crook of Newt's neck.

"Try harder, you're keeping me up you shank." Thomas replied and kissed the back of Newt's neck, and Newt decided that that was very unfair as he got goosebumps all over his upper body.

"You're not really making it easier." he whispered and he could _feel_ Thomas' smirk.

"I mean it, you bloody bastard. Stuff like that can wait 'til we get back home. Or you can move back to your own mattress." he muttered and turned back to his pillow. Thomas tightened his grip around Newt's waist a bit and placed another kiss on his neck.

"Okay. Sorry, Newt. I'll stop now. G'night." he whispered.

"G'night, Tommy." Newt whispered back and bored his face into the pillow to hide his smile.


	14. Into the Woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fry's talked to Newt about their next destination, and since they're in Minnesota, Newt wants to go hiking and simply enjoy nature.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end is near, my friends. Just one more chapter, and then it's time for the epilouge. Just a question; how long time do you want it to be between the events of this fic and the epilouge? xx

"I've discussed a bit with Newt, and he wants to go hiking so I think we should do just that." Fry announced at breakfast. Both Gally and Chuck groaned in complaint.

"Shut your bloody cake-holes. You've been choosing a lot, and nature's beautiful around here so you have no say in this." Newt said and took a bite of his sandwich. Thomas looked at him with concerned eyes.

"You sure? I mean, you almost broke your leg the last time we went hiking." he said and Newt rolled his eyes with a slight smile. Thomas was adorable when he was worried.

"Last time we went hiking, it was in the middle of the bloody night. I think I'll manage when the sun is up." he said and Thomas nodded with a smile. Minho finished his breakfast in two more bites and stood up.

"I'll go look for a destination. Be ready to leave in ten." he said and left them to go look at a map. Newt quickly finished his sandwich and helped Fry put everything back where it came from. Then he sat down next to Thomas again. They didn't say anything, Just leaned against eachother as they waited for Minho to start the bus.

**************

"Look at that view!" Newt shouted, astonished. He had just climbed up to the top of a hill, and was rewarded with an amazing view over a big lake surrounded by pine trees pretty much as far as he could see.

"I'm happy with my view from here, it's fantastic." Thomas said, from a bit further down the hill. Newt looked at him and Thomas smirked. Newt realized he meant his ass, and rolled his eyes.

"Tommy, we're here to enjoy nature, not make our friends want to strangle themselves." he deadpanned and made Thomas laugh as he climbed all the way up to Newt. Then he looked at the view Newt had meant, and stopped laughing.

"Wow." was all he said, and Newt felt quite pleased.

"Told ya." he said and Thomas snorted, and then grabbed Newt's hand and intertwined ther fingers while they waited for the others to catch up. Minho was the first one, quickly followed by Fry and Teresa. They all stood in silence while they waited for Gally and Chuck, who were last. Then Minho pointed at a small clearing by the lake.

"I was thinking we should stop for lunch there." he said and Newt thought that would be great. Lunch by a lake could never be wrong. Newt took up the lead, still holding Thomas' hand, and led his friends down the hill again, but not the way they came. It was steep, so he was careful where he put his feet. He nearly fell a couple of times, but Thomas caught him and brought him back to his feet instantly every time. When they finally was down, they were right at the edges of a mire. Newt tried to look for the best way past it, and decided to just head right, since that was the way they would need to go to get to the clearing. He looked closely to see where they could walk without getting wet and then walked that way. No one said anything, but he could hear their steps loud and clear, and some occasional cursing when someone stepped a bit to far to the left. He felt Thomas' hand in his own and practically dragged him along. 

Newt hit his foot against a rock he didn't see, and inwardly cursed every stone in existence. They seriously hated him. He didn't say anything out loud, tough, because he didn't feel like seeing Thomas' concerned face right now, even though it was adorable. They walked for about an hour, before they got to the lake, and as soon as they had gotten past the mire his friends were all jokingly pushing eachoter around. Zart had tried talking to Chuck, who walked behind him, and accidentally walked straight into a tree, turning around just in time to hit it face-first which had made all of them laugh while he cursed and rubbed his nose. Minho stepped into a small hole, and the yelp he let out when he fell to the ground was immediatley added to Newt's list of things he would tease Minho about forever. 

They arrived at the clearing, and Newt had to say Minho had done a great job choosing where they would should stop for lunch. It wasn't a huge clearing, but still not quite as small as it had seemed from the top of that hill. They dropped their backpacks with extra clothing and firewood, and Brenda started to prepare a fire while Newt went down to the lake. The water was very clear, and he could see small fish swimming around. He felt a sudden urge to take of his hiking boots and walk into the water, but decided against that idea. That would just require an unnecessary amount of effort. He was joined by Minho and Thomas after a while.

"Great choice of location, Min." he said and Minho grinned.

"Can't take all the credit, it was your idea in the first place." he said and Newt nodded.

"Okay. Let's share the credit then." he said and Minho nodded. Then they grew silent and Newt rested his head against Thomas' shoulder.

"Time to eat!" Zart shouted after a few minutes, and they returned to their friends by the fire. Hotdogs were passed out and they were all talking. While they ate Alby told them some story about stupid things his little brother had done when they were kids, and that led to a discussion about stupid things kids do. Newt contributed to it by telling them about that time he, his mum and his little sister, Sonya, had taken a walk to their grandparents so their mum could feed the chickens. Their mum had left them alone to feed the bloody things, and then Sonya had started to scream, because she couldn't speak yet, and Newt had thought that maybe she was hungry so he had picked up like maybe a fistful of bird seeds from the ground and stuffed her mouth full of them to give her something to eat, and then their mum had come back only to find Sonya laying quietly in her wagon, spitting out bird seeds one by one.

Gally and Minho were laughing so hard at the end of the story that they were laying on the ground. Thomas were sitting up, but he was cluthing his stomach and Newt thought he saw tears of laughter forming in his eyes. Teresa just stared at him in disbelief.

"Your poor sister!" she exclaimed. 

"I thought she was hungry, and if the birds could eat it, why couldn't she?" Newt defended his younger self, and caused another wave of laughter. When he had calmed down a bit, Minho sat back up and clapped Newt on the shoulder.

"You should win a 'Brother-of-the-Year' award or something." he said, still a bit out of breath. Newt laughed.

"Yeah, I know." he replied. Teresa still stared at him like she couldn't believe how stupid he was.

"Remind me not to let my children anywhere near you." she said and Newt just smirked in response. 

They put the fire out with water from the lake, and then they continued. They were meant to walk around the lake, so they never walked so far from it that they couldn't see glimpses of it between the trees. Newt couldn't believe how clumsy his friends were. Gally managed to trip over a branch that was lying on the ground and faceplant, burying his face in a blueberry bush. Chuck slipped while they were walking down a steep slope, and made somersaults all the way down until a pine tree stopped him. Thomas and Minho both tripped over roots, and they were supposed to be the athletes in their group! But Newt couldn't help but laugh when Zart stepperight into an anthill. He let out the most unmanly shriek Newt had ever heard when his leg was invaded by ants, and he jumped furiously to get them off while screaming and cursing the ants. It all ended with him running into the lake to get them off. When he returned it became clear that he had actually dove and swam, because he was dripping wet all over, with the same expression as Grumpy Cat. Newt was laughing so hard at the sight he actually had to grab Thomas' to not fall to the ground.

They stopped for a quick break around 3.30pm to eat sandwiches. They had about two hours left to walk, and Zart was still wearing damp clothes and a grumpy expression, although not as grumpy as before. Newt couldn't look at him without starting to giggle. 

When they finally got back to the bus everyone except Newt and the girls fell down on their mattresses like they had lost all the bones in their bodies just like that. Newt actually pitied them a little bit. He was the only one who went hiking with his family on weekends and stuff, and the only one of the who did it sometimes out of them was Zart, and he had been attacked by ants. They were parked right outside a quite small town, so decided that he could get dinner for them tonight. He changed clothes into black jeans and one of the tees Thomas had picked for him.

"I'm heading into town. Anyone wanna come with?" he asked in a teasing tone. Thomas groaned as a reply and Gally flipped him off. Teresa nodded though, and Newt could use some help with carrying, so they both headed for somewhere they could get food.

They ended up ordering ten pizzas, and the man behind the counter looked at them like they were crazy when they ordered. Newt felt the need to explain that they got pizzas for their friends too, and the man looked a little bit less worried about their mental health after he did. They returned to the bus as quickly as they good to avoid the pizzas getting cold. Newt opened the door and stepped inside, quickly followed by Teresa.

"Any of you shanks down for pizza?" he asked after he'd closed the door, and that made them all look up. Minho looked like he could start kissing Newt.

"You're a hero, Newt!" he said, and Newt caught a hint of awe in his voice. He and Teresa passed the pizzas out, and when Gally looked at his (Newt had made sure to order all their favorite pizzas) he turned to look at Thomas with a very serious expression.

"You better keep him, Thomas." he said and Thomas nodded while already stuffing his mouth full of pizza.

"I intend to." he said, and a bit of pizza fell from his mouth and onto his lap.

"My Prince Charming." Newt said while looking skeptically at him.

"I don't think you are allowed to say anything about that, Mr Bird-Seeds." Teresa told him.

"That was one time, and I was three bloody years old." Newt protested and then took a bit of his own pizza while Minho roared with laughter again. Thomas leaned on Newt's shoulder, and Newt felt completely content. Things couldn't be much better than this.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the last thing they will do together before the roadtrip is over, and Chuck and Thomas decide together that they will make their friends visit the nearest zoo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last actually chapter! Sorry it may be a bit sad. I'll get right to planning the epilouge tonight.  
> Enjoy! ^^

"The zoo? Seriously, guys?" Alby asked, his voice telling them all that he hoped Chuck and Thomas were joking.

"Yeah, seriously. I've been experiencing a severe lack of animals this summer." Thomas said and Alby sighed deeply.  
Minho patted his back.

"There there, Al. It's not the worst they could have come up with. Zart, could you be a dear and look up the closest zoo for me?" he said, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Zart rolled his eyes, but picked his phone up. _The zoo. They did better than I expected._ He was lying on his mattress, not caring to get up just yet. They had been up until 1am last night playing charades, and right now he considered his pillow his best friend. He was disturbed by a sudden extra weight on top of him. He looked up to see Thomas lying on top of him with a huge grin. Newt groaned and tried to pull his duvet over his head, despite Thomas weighing it down.

"Get up, Newt. We're going to the zoo!" Thomas gleefully exclaimed.

"I heard. Get off me. You weigh a bloody ton, Tommy." Newt grunted back. Thomas just grinned.

"You're no fun on mornings. You're lucky you're cute when you're grumpy." he teased and bent down to peck Newt quickly on the cheek before standing up. Newt rolled over on his side, finally able to cover himself completely with his duvet. It was moments like this he wondered how he had been able to put up with Thomas for five years. He sighed and decided that he might as well take on the day now, waiting wouldn't help.

**************

"So, we'll walk past the foxes first. Oh look, a few cubs were born earlier this summer!" Teresa exclaimed. Thomas took Newt's hand and lead the way to the enclosure. It was a perfect for going to the zoo. It was sunny, but not too hot so the animals had enough energy to move about and not lay in the shade, and it wasn't tiring to walk around the zoo.

"Oh my God, look! That's so cute!" Brenda squealed and pointed. Newt looked over to what she wanted them to see, and saw three cubs rolling around on the ground, playing with eachother. He had to agree, it was bloody cute. He almost squealed himself. Chuck smiled widely, and so did Thomas. Newt thought his boyfriend looked a lot like a cub himself at the moment, actually. Even Alby looked like he didn't hate the whole thing anymore. Fry took some pictures with phone.

When the girls were done dying out of cuteness, they continued to the lemurs. The fences were pretty low, and a path led up to the house where the lemurs spent the nights. Most seemed to be outside right now, but they decided to check inside too. Halfway, they discovered that the fence was made mostly to keep the humans out, but not so much the lemurs out, as one jumped out of a tree and landed right on top of Gally's head. Gally let out a surprised yelp, but the lemur seemed pretty content with sitting on his head. Newt decided that this was something he wanted to s´remember, so he got his phone out and took a picture of it. Then he started to giggle at the sight the lemur on Gally's head, just sitting there while Gally didn't have any idea what to and looked a bit panicked. Alby smirked, and Newt knew he would never let Gally forget this. Minho and Zart were laughing. Then the lemur finally jumped back to his buddies, and Gally quickly left. Newt followed, grabbing Thomas' wrist to drag him along. 

They walked past a few more enclosures, including elephants, chimps and gorillas, when they decided it was time for lunch. They ended up buying sandwiches from a stand inside the zoo, and then they sat on the ground outside. They were talking, and got surprised, and a bit scared, by a shriek right next to them. Newt turned around to locate the sound, and spotted a peacock right next to them. He got surprised by the sight and jumped back, into Thomas. 

The others noticed it too, and Fry almost looked scared, while the rest looked more like they had been honored by a visit from the Queen of England.

"I... It's huge." Fry almost whispered.

"Don't tell me you're scared of a bird, Fry." Zart said with an amused look.

"I'm not! It's just bigger than I expected, and that beak looks like it would hurt if it bit me... Okay, maybe I'm a little scared." he said, and Gally, Zart and Minho started laughing. The bird itself still stood still and stared at Newt. Newt slowly sat up, not wanting to scare the bird away. It just cocked its head a bit to the side and continued to look at him. It was honestly getting a bit creepy. Then the bird stepped closer to him and he backed back to Thomas.

"What do I do?" he whispered and Thomas chuckled.

"How should I know? Try to shoo it away or something." he answered and Newt glared up at him.

"I'm not going closer to it than this. You're my bloody boyfriend, it's your job to protect me." he grumbled and Thomas laughed.

"Protect you against a bird?" he questioned.

"Yes! The bird is big and staring at me and it's bloody creepy." Newt retorted, and the bird was still looking at him. Thomas shook his head like Newt was being the most ridiculous person ever, and Newt kind of felt like it too. Thomas then stood up and chased the peacock away and sat back down.

"There. Are you feeling safer now?" he asked sarcastically and Newt had to surpress an eye roll.

"Thanks, Tommy." he replied and Thomas ruffled his hair and laughed. They finished their lunch and moved on to the animals Newt was actually excited to see. They walked to the kangaroos first, and they could jump around almost as freely as the lemurs. The zoo had made a path through their enclosure with low, wooden fences to keep the humans walk around freely, but let the kangaroos move around as they liked. This time, it was Minho that had close contact with one of the animals, as a small kangaroo jumped right in front of him, and seemed to decide if it should fight him or not. Eventually it decided that he wasn't worth it and left them. 

"If it had jumped me I would seriously had beat the living klunk out of it, animal or not." Minho muttered and Brenda laughed at him. They continued on to the polar bears, who weren't that fun since they were just swimming around, so they left to go to the lions. They arrived just in time to see the only male mount one of the lionesses. 

"Well... This isn't something you see everyday." Zart commented and the rest of them nodded in agreement. Thomas turned to Newt with an raised eyebrow and a smirk, and Newt gave him his best 'Really, Tommy?' look, and then Thomas pinched his ass as if to say 'yes, really'.

"Tommy!" Newt exclaimed in an accusing voice. Thomas only smirked more and followed the rest of their friends who were on their way out. Newt rolled his eyes and grabbed Thomas' hand. He had already realized his boyfriend was a lost cause.

Then they arrived at the animals Newt had looked forward the most to see: the tigers. He let go of Thomas to be able to take as many photos as possible. He leaned against the fence to get as close as possible. One of the tigers were swimming, another one lying next to a tree, and two were playing with eachother. He completely zoned out from his friends, and focused on the big cats. He was interrupted after a little while by Chuck telling him Teresa wanted to go check out the reptiles and spiders. Newt couldn't understand why anyone would willing look at huge bloody spiders, but he followed his friends anyways. 

They located the building where the reptiles, spiders and fish were kept. The tropical section with land-living animals came first. Teresa immediatley went for the first snake she saw, which just so happened to be an anaconda. Newt was fine with looking at snakes, he actually found the sort of interesting, and lizards too, but if there was something he didn't like, it was spiders. He still went after his friends though, and shivered at every spider they saw. They were huge! And he also didn't understand what the bloody hell they needed eight legs for. Other animals were just fine with half of that. And the eyes were creepy too. He almost sighed with relief when they came to the fish. They were much more calming. He studied the stingrays and other seacreatures he saw, and it made him want to go back to that hidden bay Gally had taken them too. That day had been wonderful. 

When they left the zoo, it was still warm outside, and Newt's legs hurt from all the walking. They decided that they should all just eat at a restaurant as a last night out before they got back home, so Minho found a place, and they sat outside and ate as they joked around and watched the sun set. Newt leaned against Thomas when he didn't have any food left, and let the others talk while he just listened and laughed with them. He tried to take in as much of the moment as possible. They would be back home tomorrow afternoon, and after that they would all go their own ways and not see eachother every day anymore. It was a sort of bittersweet melancholy over the moment, and he knew he would miss them all a lot. They were his nine best friends after all. He would stay in their hometown, and so would Thomas and Chuck, but the rest of them would spread out all over the country. It felt strange to know that they would split up after so long time together. He kissed Thomas cheek and laughed at Minho's imitation of Gally's face when he had had the lemur on his head. He would miss this so much.

**************

"That's the last bag." Gally announced as he lifted Zart's bag out and gave it to it's owner. Then he jumped out and Minho closed the doors of the bus behind him. They all stood with their bags, quiet and looked at eachother.

"Well... I guess this is the last time we all are together at the same time." Minho finally said, and there was a heavy feeling to his statement. They all nodded, and then started walking around to hug eachother. Minho hugged Newt quite tightly, and then smiled at him.

"Take care of Thomas for me. Wouldn't want him gettin' into trouble." he said and Newt smiled back.

"You got it." he replied, before walking over to hug Teresa. When the hugging was over, they all stood together and said goodbye.

"All of ya better stay in touch, or I'll bloody haunt you." Newt said jokingly, and they all agreed to send messages and call every now and then. Then he waved, and Thomas took his hand and they walked home to their own apartments. Newt tried to distract himself for a few hours with Game of Thrones, but it was too quiet without his friends there after weeks in the same space as them. He eventually texted Thomas to come over.

They spent the night together, cuddled up and sleeping in Newt's bed. It felt better to not be alone, and Newt could definitely live with this everynight.


	16. Epilouge - 3 years later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three years has gone by since the roadtrip, and for the first time all of them are together at the same time again - at Newt and Thomas wedding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Newtmas wedding seemed like something you would like to see, and since I'd already considered that that's what I wrote.  
> I've loved writing this story and coming up with ideas for it, it's been really fun. Once again, thanks for sticking with this story, and thanks to everyone who's left kudos, comments or bookmarked it, that really helped me keep motivated.  
> I tried my best while writing this chapter, so I hope you like it! ^^  
> Enjoy! <3

Newt's alarm went off, and he groaned as he rolled to his side and stretched his arm out to turn it off. The sun was already shining in through the window and birds were chirping outside. He pulled the duvet over his head and silently wished he could sleep a bit longer. He had never been a morning person. Then he suddenly remembered what day it was today and shot right up. He looked to his right and saw that Thomas' side of the bed was empty. He didn't get to wonder about his fiancé's location for more than two seconds before he heard noises from the kitchen as if someone dropped a frying pan onto the stove, and then Thomas swearing. Newt smiled and fell back to the bed. If Thomas was making breakfast he could afford to spend a few more minutes in bed.

He looked down at his left hand and the engagement ring. They had been together for exactly a year, and lived together for about six months, and Thomas had insisted they do something to celebrate. Newt wasn't really one for anniversaries, he had a hard enough time remembering birthdays, but he had never been able to say no to Thomas, so they had ended up at a fancy restaurant, and it was the first time they tasted food that could actually compete with Fry's. Afterwards, Thomas had taken them right to the middle of nowhere to go stargazing, and Newt had noticed him being more fidgety than usual but didn't put too much thought into it. Thomas had those days sometimes. They had been sitting on the ground together under a blanket, and then Thomas had searched his pockets for something, and pulled out the ring. He didn't even get to stop talking before Newt had said yes and shut him up by kissing him. Newt smiled fondly at the memory. Thomas was such a hopeless romantic. Newt had told him that he didn't really like the really traditional weddings, and Thomas had agreed to do something a bit different. That's how they ended up deciding that they would get married outside, by a lake, and not in a church. 

He was disturbed by Thomas entering the room with a tray with plates, whipped cream, berries and a mountain of waffles. Thomas grinned at him.

"Good morning, sunshine." he greeted and Newt rolled his eyes, but couldn't help smiling like a bloody idiot.

"Mornin' Tommy." he replied. Thomas set the tray down on the bed and then sat down in front of Newt. He placed two waffles on a plate together with berries and cream and handed it to Newt before taking his own. They ate in silence for a while, and then Thomas decided to break it.

"Ready for today?" he asked and Newt nodded. He had a nervous lump in his stomach, but knew he wouldn't get more ready than this anyways.

"Yeah. Are you?" he asked and Thomas nodded, and Newt smiled. 

"If someone had told me seven years ago that I would get married to the random kid who arrived to class ten minutes late in PJs and drinking a Red Bull the first day I would have just laughed in their bloody face." he said jokingly and got a laugh out of Thomas.

"Yeah. Maybe not the best first impression I've made." he said and scratched his neck. Newt laughed and they spent the rest of their breakfast eating and talking about old times. Newt came to think about that he would see all of his friends later today, and couldn't help but smile a bit wider. Of course he had met them all since the roadtrip, it had been three bloody years ago, but never at the same time and he hadn't seen Zart or Gally in over a year. 

They were interrupted by a knock on their door. Thomas went to open up while Newt stayed in bed. He did get up, though, when he heard Minho's voice. There was a door that led straight from the bedrrom to the hallway, so Newt leaned against the door frame with one shoulder while he waited for Minho to let go of Thomas and notice him. Sure enough, just seconds later Minho smiled widely and walked over to Newt.

"Hey, man." Newt greeted and pulled Minho in for a hug. 

"You shanks prepared?" Minho smirked when they let go and Newt nodded.

"Yeah. I'll go take a shower now. Please do not destroy the whole place." he said and walked towards the shower. Somehow, the feeling of nervousness got worse with every minute.

**************

Newt tried to fix his tie to be correct, and comfortable. It didn't seem to work though. He was not used to dress up this much. He sighed and was on his way to give up when Thomas took over. Newt didn't really see what he did, but when he was done the tie was at least slightly more comfortable and it looked good. Thomas huffed out a laugh and shook his head, while Newt glared at him. Then Thomas sarcastically stretched his arm out for Newt to take. Newt rolled his eyes instead and then pushed Thomas in front of him through the door. Minho had already gone to the lake, and they had to get going too. They had agreed that Minho should be named best man, and they had considered Alby too, but decided that Minho would be more than enough. They had also asked Fry to be in charge of the food, which he happily had agreed to. 

They stepped out of the car, and it felt like Newt's stomach was trying to eat itself by now. Neither of them had wanted a huge wedding, so the only guests were their friends, Newt's parents and little sister and Thomas' parents and brother. He was still nervous. He was about to get _married._ He looked at Thomas, who nodded. Newt took a deep breath and grabbed Thomas' arm. It was time. 

Newt saw their friends and family stand up as they made their way towards the waiting priest, and he almost completely zoned out. He had always considered himself good at handle nervousness, but this was at a whole new level. His head was spinning and he was glad he had Thomas to hold on to. It didn't get better when they got to the "aisle" either. He listened to the priest, but just barely processed his words. He said his vows, know them by heart after repeating them to himself at least five times every day for the last month, just in case. They were at the end of the ceremony when he finally fully tuned back in.

"Do you, Thomas Edison, take Isaac Newton to be you lawfully wedded husband?" the priest said, and Newt's stomach clenched. He almost missed his previous state.

"I do." Thomas said, and smiled widely at Newt. Newt tried to smile back.

"And do you, Isaac Newton, take Thomas Edison to be your lawfully wedded husband?" the priest said, and Newt struggeled for a millisecond to remember the words.

"I do." he did get out, though, and was so relieved. He didn't have to say anything more now. He managed to smile back fully to Thomas now. He felt so much relief that he actually missed the priest's last words completely, and suddenly Thomas was kissing him. He kissed him back, of course, and the sounds returned and he could hear the guests cheering. The ceremony was finally over, and he was married! To Thomas! He was married to his Tommy! They turned to face their friends and family, arms around eachother's waist. Newt couldn't help but smile so much his cheeks actually started to hurt, and when he looked at Thomas he saw that he wasn't the only one. 

Their mothers forced them to move closer to the lake, so they could get wedding photos with it in the background. While their mothers (and Brenda and Teresa) fussed over them, their friends, siblings and fathers stayed a bit in the background, taking photos and congratulating them. Fry left a while to prepare the food. Apparently, the cook had made a three-course dinner. They all sat down together around a table they had taken there yesterday, and Fry served them a delicious pasta sallad, that seemed pretty luxurious but still simple. And it literally tasted like heaven, or what Newt imagined food from heaven would taste like.

"You have no idea how much I've missed your food, Fry." he said and all his friends nodded and hummed in agreement. Newt's father also complimented the food. When they finished, Fry collected the dishes with help from Chuck and Teresa, and as he prepared the main course the rest of them sat down and talked. Newt couldn't resist reminding Zart of that time he had stepped right into an anthill, and Zart was friendly enough to remind Newt about the time he had tripped over a boulder and Thomas had to carry him for an hour. They did a bit of catching up too, and apparently Gally had started dating someone named Beth. Their families also contributed to the conversations.

The main course consisted of some delicious meat, potatoes cut artistically and then grilled in the oven, gravy that worked magically wonderful together with the potatoes and grilled asparagus. No one would ever be able to top Fry when it came down to food, Newt was sure of it. This time it was Sonya who felt the need to tell Fry just how good he was at cooking and Thomas' brother, Aris, nodded to agree with her every word. Newt was struck by the sudden thought how fun it would be if Aris and Sonya ended up together, too. 

Before the dessert, Minho decided that it was time for his speech. Newt listened to his every word, and in the beginning Newt was shocked by how nicely he spoke about him and Thomas, and really moved, but then he went back to his normal mix of compliments, jokes and sarcastic remarks, and Newt actually liked that better. It was almost uncomfortably out of character of Minho to just shower them with nice words. Then Fry carried the dessert in, and Newt was so happy they had asked him to be in charge of the food. They had told him to just surprise them, because they knew whatever he chose to do it would be fantastic. Newt had actually sort of expected the traditional cake, but Fry knew that Newt wasn't overly fond of traditions so he made something else. 

He handed out beautiful glasses with vanilla panna cotta, with a sauce made out of passionfruit and mango. _Thank God for Fry._ Newt had to actually stop from moaning because it tasted so amazing, and judging by the looks of the others, they had to, too. 

"I'm really bloody glad we gave you free hand with the food." Newt said and Fry smirked, but didn't reply. When they had eaten, the sun was starting to set, and their families told them goodbye. But they had decided with their friends to stay longer together before they all split up again. Minho went to get a bag Thomas and Newt had given him to bring here with regular clothes, because they didn't feel like spending the whole evening wearing suits. He gave them the bag, and they walked away a bit to get changed. It was quite warm outside, so Thomas wore a pair of denim shorts, converse sneakers and a plain white tee. Newt intead wore a black pair of shorts, a grey tee and a white and red plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up. 

They returned to their friends, who had moved closer to the lake and they spent the evening the best way they could imagine: with a campfire, Fry playing guitar and the rest of them singing. It was wonderful, and made Newt feel a bit nostalgic. He was lying down with his head in Thomas' lap. He laughed so hard his stomach hurt when Zart, Alby and MMinho had a competition who could sing the most off-key. Thomas laughed too as he played a bit with Newt's hair. At this moment, everything in Newt's life felt perfect. He had just gotten married to the best person in the world, and he was reunited with all his friends. 

_This is how it's supposed to be._


End file.
